Shabbir Ali

As a footballer, Ali was rated as the best player in India during the 1970s and 1980s. Arguably the finest striker of his time, Ali was a prolific goal scorer both at the national and international level. He rose to fame at a very early age when he captained India to win the Asian Youth championships in Bangkok jointly with Iran in 1974, a performance which even earned praise from the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. After playing with Tata Sports Club in Bombay for a few years, Ali was lured away by the top Calcutta club, East Bengal in the late seventies. Later he joined Mohammedan Sporting and took the club to a great height before retiring from the same club in the mid-1980s. During his captaincy, in 1983–84, the club won nine trophies including back to back wins in Indian Federation Cup. Later in his playing days, he went to Bangladesh to play for Dhaka First Division League side Dhaka Victoria Sporting, where he stayed for a season only. Ali scored 16 goals in international matches and remains one of India's all-time top scorers, ahead of Chuni Goswami, Pradip Kumar Banerjee, Inder Singh and among others. In the 1976 Merdeka international football tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Ali scored a hat-trick against Indonesia in the first 35 minutes. Only twelve footballers in India have scored an international hat-trick; of those, Ali's is the fastest. On his 65th birthday, Ali said, "Whatever I have become today because of football. Before retiring I was thinking I got…

For 12 years between 1972 and 1984, Ali was an automatic choice with the national team of India, be it Asian Youth, Asian Games, pre-Olympics, Asian Cup, Merdeka Cup tournament, Nehru Gold Cup, King's Cup or any other goodwill tour. He also captained India in Asian Youth, pre-Olympics, Nehru Cup, Merdeka and King's Cup tournaments. He gained fame when Arun Ghosh managed India U-20 team under his captaincy, went on to share the 1974 AFC Youth Championship title with Iran-20, in which he scored five goals. One of his best moments came in the 1976 Merdeka international football tournament in Kuala Lumpur, where he scored a hat-trick against Indonesia within the first 35 minutes. Among Indians who have scored a hat-trick, Ali's was the fastest. He also appeared in the 1976 Jasson Cup held in Afghanistan, with Indian team managed by Jarnail Singh. He played over 100 international matches for India and scored 30 goals from 1974 to per match.

After retiring as a footballer in 1985, Ali became a coach. He earned a first class diploma from the Sports Authority of India. He successfully passed the German football association B License coach and also their four-week coaching course, which is equivalent to A License. As a coach, Ali proved to be a great success within a short period of time. Appointed the technical director of the India, he steered the team to the gold medal in the 1995 South Asian Games in Chennai. It was a superb achievement considering the fact that India failed to win in the three previous South Asian Games at Colombo, Islamabad and Dhaka. He remained the Technical Director till the pre-World Cup tournament in Qatar next year. In the 1991–92 seasons, he made Mohammedan Sporting the Champion Club of India, having won four tournaments and finished runners-up in two others. Next season, he took up the challenge of coaching a relatively smaller club when he accepted the assignment with Peerless SC. It took him only one season to promote the club to the Calcutta Super Division. Between 1997 and 1999, Ali managed top Goan outfit Salgaocar and established himself as India's best coach. Barring a few like PK Banerjee and Syed Nayeemuddin, no other coach in India could win so many titles in such a short span as Ali did. It started in 1998 when Salgaocar won the Goa Professional League under his guidance and went on to win the Indian Super Cup defeating the National League champions, Mohun Bagan AC. Next…

Player

India

ANFA Cup runner-up: 1983 Afghanistan Republic Day Cup third place: 1976 King's Cup third place: 1977 India U20

AFC Asian U-19 Championship: 1974 Mohammedan Sporting

Calcutta Football League: 1981 Federation Cup: 1983–84 Rovers Cup: 1980, 1984 Sait Nagjee Trophy: 1984 DCM Trophy: 1980 Sikkim Gold Cup: 1980 Durand Cup runner-up: 1980 IFA Shield runner-up: 1982 Individual

AFC Youth Championship top scorer: 1974 Calcutta Football League top scorer: 1983

Manager

Mohammedan Sporting

Federation Cup: 1984–85; runners-up: 1989–90 Stafford Cup: 1991 Rovers Cup: 1987; runner-up: 1991 Sait Nagjee Trophy: 1991, 1992 Bordoloi Trophy: 1985, 1986, 1991 All Airlines Gold Cup: 1986; runner-up: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 Independence Day Cup: 1988 Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup runner-up: 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991 Kalinga Cup: 1991 Vizag Trophy: 1986 Salgaocar

National Football League: 1998–99