Kabir Ahmed (footballer)

Kabir Ahmed (কবির আহমেদ; 2 February 1935 – 3 January 2019) was a Bangladeshi football player and coach. He is one of the few East Pakistani players to have represented the Pakistan national team. He was part of the legendary East Pakistani attacking trio of Kabir, Mari Chowdhury and Ashraf Chowdhury.

Club career
Kabir began his career with Town Club in the Barishal First Division in 1951. At 17, he joined Bengal Government Press and won the Dhaka League. In 1953, he played for Governors XI against Kolkata Mohammedan, during an exhibition match in Dhaka. In 1955, Kabir joined Dhaka Wanderers and won the league that season. The following year, he and several teammates joined Dhaka Mohammedan after a dispute with Wanderers authorities. At Mohammedan, Kabir won the league five times and the Aga Khan Gold Cup once. In 1958, led by Kabir, Mari Chowdhury, and Ashraf Chowdhury, Mohammedan reached the quarter-finals of India's IFA Shield. In 1959, he played for Police AC with national teammates Nabi Chowdhury and Zahirul Haque. He retired in 1967 due to a serious knee injury.

International career
Kabir represented East Pakistan at the National Football Championship between 1955 and 1959. He captained the team in 1959 when they finished runners-up. He was among the six East Pakistani footballers in the Pakistan national team at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan and was also appointed as vice-captain. Before the tournament he played practice matches in Singapore and Malaysia. In 1959, he toured Burma and later that year also participated in the 1960 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, in Kochi, India. His last international tour came the following year, under a fellow East Pakistani, head coach Sheikh Shaheb Ali, as Pakistan finished fourth place in the Merdeka Cup. Kabir captained Khulna Division in the National Championship from 1960 to 1963.

Post–playing career
In 1966, Kabir joined the East Pakistan Sports Federation. Kabir alongside coaches Sheikh Shaheb Ali and Chunna Rashid were in-charge of recruiting players and coaches for the East Pakistan football team from different districts. In 1972, he was appointed as the first ever head coach of Abahani Krira Chakra.

In 1979, he joined the ad hoc committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) and in the same year he was appointed general manager of the national team under head coach Anwar Hossain during the 1980 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. He also served as an assistant to Amir Jang Ghaznavi as a team organizer and scout for Dhaka Mohammedan following his retirement. In 2001, he received the National Sports Awards, for his contribution to the country's football.

Death
Kabir died on 3 January 2019, at the age of 83. Following a Stroke in 2001, he had been paralyzed for 17 years prior to his death. He was buried in the Azimpur graveyard, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Honours
BG Press SRC
 * Dhaka League: 1952

Dhaka Wanderers
 * Dhaka League: 1955
 * Pakistan Day Football Tournament: 1955

Mohammedan SC
 * Dhaka League: 1957, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966
 * Aga Khan Gold Cup: 1964
 * Independence Day Cup: 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1966
 * All Pakistan Mohammad Ali Bogra Shield: 1966

East Pakistan White
 * National Football Championship runner-up: 1957

East Pakistan
 * National Football Championship runner-up: 1959

Awards and accolades

 * 2001 − National Sports Awards
 * 2009 − Grameenphone - Prothom Alo Sports Lifetime award of the Year