P. K. Banerjee

I had an insatiable hunger for football. It wasn't necessary for me to play for the big two clubs. At the age of 15, Banerjee represented Bihar in Santosh Trophy, playing in the right wing. He later represented Railways and Bengal in the same tournament. In 1953, he joined Jamshedpur FA and made his debut against Hindustan Aircrafts [sic] Limited in IFA Shield. In 1954, he moved on to Kolkata and joined Aryan. Later he went on to represent Eastern Railway, and played under coaching of both Bagha Some and Sushil Bhattacharya, who guided them winning CFL in 1958. In that CFL season, he scored twelve goals and emerged top scorer. They also won DCM Trophy in 1957, and Bordoloi Trophy in 1967. He scored 14 goals for his team in 1959 season of CFL. He made his international debut for India at the 1955 Asian Quadrangular Tournament in Dacca (presently Dhaka), East Pakistan (now capital of Bangladesh) at the age of 19. He represented India in three Asian Games namely, the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, where India clinched the gold medal in football and then the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok. He was part of the national team that played at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. In that tournament, they reached the semi-finals, before going down 1–4 to Yugoslavia, which is still considered India's greatest ever achievement in football. He captained India at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where he scored an equalizer against France in a 1–1 draw. He…

After retirement, Banerjee went to Japan and attended the earliest known coaching course conducted by FIFA in 1969, under German coach Dettmar Cramer, and gained a first-Class degree. As one of the finest coaches in the history of Indian football, Banerjee came to be known for his inspirational pep talk to players termed as "vocal tonic" before games. He managed India national team at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand and led them clinching bronze medal. In that tournament, he had players like captain Syed Nayeemuddin, Sukalyan Ghosh Dastidar, Shyam Thapa, Mohammed Habib, Magan Singh. The next year in 1971, he gave India an international title, winning Pesta Sukan Cup in Singapore. Banerjee began his coaching career in Bata SC, and then went on to manage his older club Eastern Railway. His first big coaching stint came with East Bengal, joining the Kolkata giant as manager in 1972. Throughout Banerjee's managerial career, he would frequently return to manage East Bengal.He managed East Bengal when they trounced arch rival Mohun Bagan 5–0 in the 1975 IFA Shield final, the biggest ever margin in Kolkata derbies. He managed Mohun Bagan in the historic match against a star-studded New York Cosmos spearheaded by Pelé on 24 September 1977, in which both the teams shared honours as the match ended 2–2. Under his guidance, Mohun Bagan's performance against the American club featuring Pelé, Carlos Alberto Torres and Giorgio Chinaglia, earned popularity worldwide.

In 1976,…

Pradip Kumar Banerjee was born on 23 June 1936, in Jalpaiguri in Bengal Presidency (now West Bengal). He studied in Jalpaiguri Zilla School and completed his schooling from K.M.P.M. School in Jamshedpur.

At the 123rd edition of the prestigious IFA Shield, Best Coach of the tournament award was renamed as 'P. K. Banerjee Memorial Award for the Best Coach' in honour of Banerjee. On 12 May 2023, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) declared Banerjee's birth anniversary as "AIFF Grassroots Day", keeping in line with the strategic roadmap named Vision 2047, which seeks to increase grassroots' participation in the country, to engage 35 million children in football by 2026 and up to 100 million by 2047.