Prasun Banerjee

Prasun Banerjee is an Indian former professional footballer and politician who is serving as an MP in the Lok Sabha from Howrah.

He was vice-captain of the India U-20 team that clinched 1974 AFC Youth Championship title in Thailand.

Banerjee began his club football career with Calcutta Football League club Kidderpore.

He also played for Aryans.

He was included in the All Time Best-XI team of Mohun Bagan as a central defensive midfielder.

He was only the second Indian to play for Asian All-star XI.

He also played two matches against Brazil for Asian All-star XI and played against Zico, Eder, Falcao, Socretes and others.

He was included in the Limca book of record for representing India in 100 football matches.

Debut: 26 July 1974 vs Malaysia, in Merdeka Cup at Kuala Lumpur (Prasun Banerjee came in as a substitute for Gautam Sarkar).

No of Matches Played – 49

No of Matches played as a captain – 5

Goals Scored – 3

Asian Games – 1974, 1978, 1982.

Merdeka Cup (Kuala Lumpur) – 1974, 1981, 1982.

Santosh Trophy – 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 (Captain), 1982.

Goals Scored – 3

Durand Cup (5) – 1974, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982 (Joint).

Bordoloi Trophy (4) – 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977.

Championships Won – 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 (Captain) and 1982 (Joint) – 6 times

Goals Scored – 24 goals (CFL – 14, Bordoloi Trophy – 4, IFA Shield – 1, Durand Cup – 1, Rovers Cup – 1, Federation Cup −2, Darjeeling Gold Cup – 1).

Trophies Won -

Calcutta Football League (4) – 1976, 1978, 1979, 1983.

IFA Shield (5) – 1976 (Joint), 1977, 1978 (Joint), 1979, 1982.

Rovers Cup (2) – 1976, 1977.

Kings Cup (Bangkok) – 1977, 1981.

Aga Khan Gold Cup (Dhaka) – 1977.

Prasun Banerjee was the Joint Captain of the Indian Youth Team along with Sabbir Ali which became Joint Champions with Iran in Asian Youth Soccer Tournament at Bangkok.

Federation Cup (3) – 1978 (Joint), 1980 (Joint), 1982.

He is an Arjuna Award winner (1979).

Younger brother of the Pradip Kumar Banerjee, Prasun had also captained the India national football team in international tournaments.

Pre Olympics – 1980 (Captain).

Nehru Cup – 1982.

Presidents Cup (Seoul) – 1982.

In 2013, he won the bypoll to the Howrah Sadar parliamentary constituency on a Trinamool Congress ticket thus becoming the first professional footballer to be a Member of Parliament, India (Lok Sabha).

He won the seat defeating his adversary, Left Front's Sridip Bhattacharya, by more than 27,000 votes.

He was re-elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014.

Prasun is the younger brother of India's player of the 20th century and former national coach, P. K. Banerjee.

He is a graduate of the University of Calcutta.

Trinamool MP Prasun Banerjee slapped Kolkata traffic constable The incident took place near the Lake Town Bridge when Banerjee was travelling on the VIP Road.

The constable, identified as Taragati Biswas, reportedly stopped Banerjee's vehicle while it violated the 'no U-turn' rule.