P. K. Banerjee

Pradip Kumar Banerjee ( fondly called P.K.), who passed away today, was one of India's greatest footballers. He was one of the first recipients of Arjuna Award, when the awards were instituted in 1961. He was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri in 1990 and was named Indian Footballer of the 20th century by IFFHS. In 2004, he was awarded the FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honour awarded by FIFA.

P.K. was born on 23rd June 1936 in Jalpaiguri in  Bengal Presidency (now West Bengal). At the age of 15, Banerjee represented Bihar in the Santosh Trophy, playing on the right wing. In 1954 he moved on to Kolkata and joined Aryan.  He made his debut for the national team in the 1955 Quadrangular tournament at the age of 19. He made 84 appearances for India, scoring 65 goals during the course of his career.

He represented India in three Asian Games -  the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, where India clinched the gold medal in football and then the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok. He was part of the national team that played at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.   He captained India at the 1960  Olympics in Rome, where he scored an equalizer against Francein a 1-1 draw. He represented India thrice at the Merdeka Cup in Kuala Lumpur, where India won a silver medal in 1959 and 1964 and a bronze medal in 1965. Recurring injuries forced him to drop out of the national team and subsequently to his retirement in 1967.

As coach he helped Mohun Bagan to make a big turnaround from 1976 onwards. Mohun Bagan  won a number of trophies under the coaching of P.K. Banerjee. He was the coach of Mohun Bagan in eight  seasons and  they won 25 trophies durin his tenure as  coach.  He received the Mohun Bagan Ratna in 2011. He also successfully coached the  Indian National team for a number of years.

Banerjee died today,  20 March 2020  after suffering from age-related issues, having been on life support at a Kolkata hospital for 20 days.



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