Syed Nayeemuddin conferred Mohan Bagan Ratna

Suresh Kumar Lau

The first person to win the both the Arjuna Award (1970) and Dronacharya Award (1990) winners Syed Nayeemuddin has added another feather to his cap by fetching Mohan Bagan Ratna in a glittering function on July 29, 2016 in Kolkata. 

The former Indian skipper, latter the National coach and played for Mohan Bagan in 1968, 1969, 1972 and 1973 and captained the team in 1974. He became the 16^th recipient of the prestigious award which is given to someone making seminal contribution to the accomplishment of the club.

He has coached the state team of West Bengal and also all three foremost football clubs of Calcutta (now Kolkata). Nayeemuddin, who contributed whole hearted both as a player and later as the coach, received Rupees 1 lakh and a citation.

He was the outstanding player in the Junior National Football Championship in 1963 and 1964 at Allahabad and Ajmer respectively. He captained the first Indian team for the Asian Youth Soccer Tournament in 1963 in Malaysia. He played for Hyderabad Police for two sessions. He also played for Bengal National form 1966 to 1972, including a tenure as skipper in 1970. He migrated to Calcutta in 1966 and played for Jadavpur University (Calcutta), he joined the strong East Bengal in 1966. In 1967, East Bengal won the renowned Durand cup by defeating Bengal Nagpur Railway 1-0. He played for Mohammedan sporting in 1971, Mohammedan sporting won the prestigious IFA Shield by defeating Tollygunge Aggragami 2-0. He played for India consequently from 1962 -1971. In 1964 he represented Indian teams for the Pre – Olympic and Asian Cup final round in Tel Aviv. He was a member of the Indian team, which won silver medal at the 1964 Merdeka Cup and captained the team, which won bronze at the 1970 Merdeka Cup and the 1970 Asian Games, Bangkok. He was one of the very few footballer selected to play for Asian All – Star Team in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in 1968.

Nayeemuddin took up coaching from 1979. He attended specialized coaching courses in football in Hungary in 1981, in Pakistan in 1982, in West Germany 1982 and in Brazil in two occasions in 1983 and 1984. Nayeemuddin has given specialized coaching and has won three international championships – South Asian Federation Games (SAF) gold medal in 1987 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) titles in Kathmandu (1997) and Karachi (2005). He achieved the Triple Crown for East Bengal for the first time after a gap of 20 years, won IFA shield, Durand Cup and Rovers Cup in 1990. He retired as Administrative Officer (Sports) from Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation.