P. K. Banerjee

Pradip Kumar Banerjee FIFAOM (23 June 1936 – 20 March 2020) was an Indian professional footballer who played as a striker for the India national football team.

He also captained the national team and later on became the coach of the national team.

He represented India in 52 official matches and scored 16 official goals for the country.

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.

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.

He made his international debut for India at the 1955 Quadrangular tournament in Dacca (presently Dhaka), East Pakistan (now capital of Bangladesh) at the age of 19.

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.

They also won DCM Trophy in 1957, and Bordoloi Trophy in 1967.

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.

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 scored 14 goals for his team in 1959 season of CFL.

He represented India thrice at the Merdeka Cup in Kuala Lumpur, where India won a silver medal in 1959 and 1964 and a bronze medal in 1965.

He captained India at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where he scored an equalizer against France in a 1–1 draw.

He was one of the first recipients of Arjuna Award, when the awards were instituted in 1961.

In 1961 Merdeka Cup, he played under Sailen Manna.

He had a tremendous burst of speed.

His main asset was that he could score particularly from an angle, from inside the box or outside.

He also had a good header and was a good passer, setting his teammates up from the wing with accurate crosses.

Banerjee, known for having incredible partnership with Chuni Goswami and Tulsidas Balaram, is one of the "Indian football's holy trinity".

Recurring injuries forced him to drop out of the national team and subsequently to his retirement in 1967.

FIFA "A" matches only

FIFA A international matches are listed.

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.

He was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri in 1990 and was named Indian Footballer of the 20th century by IFFHS.

In 2004, he was awarded the FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour awarded by FIFA.

Banerjee died on 20 March 2020 at 12:40 p.m. after suffering from age-related issues, having been on life support at a Kolkata hospital since 2 March.

He also had an underlying history of Parkinson's disease, dementia and heart problems.