Legend Ahmed Khan no more

The wizard of Indian football, a two-time Olympian and the last from the bare-foot era, Ahmed Khan, passed away on Sunday. He was 90. He is survived by his wife Rabia Begum, son Amjad Khan and daughter Praveen Begum.

Ahmed started his playing career as a young forward at Crescents and later moved to Bangalore Muslims, before rising to prominence during his time at East Bengal.

Ahmed was brought into the game by his father, Mehmood ‘Baba’ Khan, a well known footballer.

While he played along side his father at Crescents, Ahmed would soon join one of the biggest clubs in those days, Bangalore Muslims. And with Abdus Sattar in company, Ahmed flourished at the Muslims and helped the side win the Rovers Cup in 1948. His performance for the Muslims also helped him earn a place in Indian team for 1948 London Olympics. And with the famous East Bengal coach JC Guha in charge of the national team, it was no surprise that Ahmed was roped in by the Kolkata side post the Games for the salary of Rs 3000, kick-starting the era of ‘Panchapandavas’.

“For a long time he was the point reference at East Bengal,” said Indian football historian Novy Kapadia. “The club guys would let players, ‘We can’t pay you so much because we pay Ahmed so much.’ He was their ultimate forward.”

Though supremely talented, Ahmed was not the one for training sessions. He loved playing cards and would skip practice to engage in a game of cards. “That’s was the thing about him. If you saw him at training, he wouldn’t interest you. Often he would get up early in the morning and go for a run, that’s it. That was his way for being fit. He loved playing football and was supremely talented, that carried him,” Kapadia continued.

It was at East Bengal, that Ahmed was at his ruthless best. Playing in a inside left position of a 2-3-5 formation along side P Venkatesh and PB Saleh on either flanks, Apparao in the inside right and Dhanraj as the centre-forward, the Panchapandavas were unstoppable.

Ahmed was so much involved with the Kolkata club that he even turned down an offer from FC Gothenburg in 1951, after Sweden side had decided to sign the forward seeing him during a friendly against East Bengal.

Ahmed was a mainstay of the national team for the first ten years after independence. He was a part of the side that played the first international game after 1947, losing out narrowly against France in the 1948 Olympics.

While Rahim Saab, the then Indian coach, had left out most of the stars from that team while choosing his squad for the Helsinki Olympics four years later, Ahmed found a place and led the line during the 1951 Asian Games triumph as well. He had in fact scored India’s only goal in the 10-1 rout against Yugoslavia, which remains the country’s biggest defeat till date.

“He might not have scored many for the country, but would create opportunities for his team-mates at will,” says Kapadia.

“In fact at the 1951 Asian Games final against Iran, it was Ahmed who set up (Sahu) Mewalal for the winner,” he continues about India’s only win over the Asian heavyweights ever since.