Nabi Chowdhury

Nurunnabi Chowdhury (নুরুন্নবী চৌধুরী; 1934 – January 2003), better known as Nabi Chowdhury, was a former Bangladeshi football player and the first East Pakistani or Bengali to captain the Pakistan national football team.

Early life
Nabi Chowdhury was born in Aziz Fazilpur village in the Feni sub-division of Noakhali District, Bengal.

Club career
Nabi served in the Pakistan Air Force and represented Pakistan Air Force FC from 1952 to 1953 while simultaneously playing in the Cumilla Football League with Pak United. In the National Football Championship, he played for East Pakistan from 1957 to 1960, winning the title in his final year, after which he began representing Chittagong Division.

He earned recognition while playing for Dhaka Wanderers Club from 1954 to 1956, winning a hat-trick of league titles during his tenure there. In 1958, he represented Mohammedan SC in the IFA Shield in Calcutta, India. In 1959, he left his duties at the Air Force and joined the East Pakistan Police, representing its football team until his retirement in 1968.

International career
Nabi made his debut for the Pakistan national team during the 1954 Manila Asian Games. He later participated in both the 1954 Colombo Cup and 1955 Colombo Cup, with the latter held on home soil, in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). In 1956, he represented Pakistan during a series of friendlies against Singapore, China and Ceylon. Nabi captained Pakistan at the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games, the first Bengali to do so. The team, including six Bengali players, tied the first game 1–1 with South Vietnam and lost its final game 1–3 to the Republic of China. Prior to the tournament, he captained the team during exhibition matches against the likes of Malaya and Singapore.

Organizing career
Nabi served as the chairman of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) national team selection committee from 1973 to 1974 and as the general secretary in 1979. He was a member for four terms, specifically in 1975, 1977, 1982, and 1992–1993. Nabi played an integral role in selecting the first Bangladesh national football team alongside Sheikh Shaheb Ali, Manzur Hasan Mintu, and Ranjit Das for the 1973 Merdeka Cup. He served as the team manager of the Bangladesh U20 team under Werner Bickelhaupt at the 1978 AFC Youth Championship in Dhaka.

Death
Nabi died of diabetes-related complications in January 2004.

Honours
Dhaka Wanderers
 * Dhaka League: 1954, 1955, 1956
 * Pakistan Day Football Tournament: 1955
 * Independence Day Cup: 1956

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

East Pakistan
 * National Football Championship: 1960; runner-up: 1959

Pakistan Individual
 * Colombo Cup runner-up: 1955
 * 1978 − National Sports Awards.