Sayed Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din (12 July 1930 – June 1998), known simply as S. K. Azizuddin,[1] was an Indian footballer.[2] He competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 1956 Summer Olympics.[3][4] He also captained the national team.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 12 July 1930 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Gocha Mahal, British India (present-day Hyderabad, Telangana India) | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | June 1998 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Chicago, Illinois, United States | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| Hyderabad City Police | |||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| India | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Personal life
editBorn on 12 July 1930 in Gocha Mahal, during the British Raj, Aziz studied from the infant class to the sixth form at the Government High School, Gocha Mahal.[5] His physical instructor Thakur Rao taught him the rudiments of the game and inspired him to improve his prowess in football.[5]
International career
editSyed Khwaja Azizuddin, popularly known as Aziz, played either as full back or center half and was one of the versatile players in Indian football during the 1950s.[5][6] He was a member of the India national football team that won gold medal at the inaugural 1951 Asian Games at Delhi. He later participated in 1953 Quadrangular tournament in Rangoon with Balaidas Chatterjee managed team, and won the title.[7][8][9]
In the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Australia, Aziz appeared with the national team that finished in fourth place, losing the bronze-medal match to Bulgaria 3–0.[10] He was also captain of the national team, that emerged victories in the Quadrangular Tournament at Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 1955.[11]
Aziz participated in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, where they finished fourth, losing the bronze-medal match to Indonesia 4–1.[12] The next year he traveled to Malaysia where they took part in the Merdeka Cup, and finished as the tournament runners-up.[13]
In national team, Aziz's teammates under coach Syed Abdul Rahim were like: Ahmed Hussain, Peter Thangaraj, Nikhil Nandy, Samar Banerjee, P. K. Banerjee, Kesto Pal, Neville Stephen D'Souza, Tulsidas Balaram, Abdul Latif, Mariappa Kempiah, Chuni Goswami, Kannan, Mohammed Rahmatullah.[14]
Club career
editHe began his club career with National Sporting Club. From 1949 to 1960, he played for Hyderabad state team in the Santosh Trophy. They reached the finals four times, emerging winners in 1956–57 and 1957–58 and runners-up in 1949–50 and 1950–51. On both occasions that Hyderabad won the Santosh Trophy, Aziz played as skipper.
When he joined the famed Hyderabad City Police, he came under the able guidance of the famous late Syed Abdul Rahim,[15] who improved his techniques and tactical knowledge of the game.[16][17] In 1951, he represented India for the first time during a tour of the Far East and later helped the country win the gold medal in the Asian Games at Delhi. Since then he was a regular for India till 1959, including tours to Russia, Ceylon and the Far East and test matches at home against Russia, Austria and Pakistan.
Stockily built Aziz, though not very tall, had superb technique. With a powerful kick on either foot he was known for his deft passing. He was equally adept with either foot and was commanding in the air. He was never flustered and played with a cool head. His positional sense was impeccable and understanding with his colleagues was always of a high calibre. He set up counter attacks with accurate cross-field passes to either flank. Former national team manager Syed Nayeemuddin paid the late Aziz the ultimate tribute when he said, "Aziz was like a Brazilian defender, he had such superb skills. Even the great Junior would have looked junior at times to Aziz".
Honours
edit- Durand Cup: 1950–51, 1954, 1957–58, 1961; runner-up: 1952, 1956–57
- Rovers Cup: 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957
India
- Asian Games Gold medal: 1951
- Colombo Cup: 1952, 1953, 1954,[20] 1955
- Merdeka Tournament runner-up: 1959[21][22][23]
Hyderabad[24]
- Santosh Trophy: 1956–57, 1957–58
References
edit- ^ "Olympian Tulsidas Balaram, the once don of Maidan soccer is no more". getbengal.com. Kolkata: Get Bengal Information Desk. 16 February 2023. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
- ^ "Sayed Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sayed Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ Media Team, AIFF (15 August 2022). "Indian Football Down the Years: Looking back at the glorious moments". www.the-aiff.com. New Delhi: All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
- ^ a b c Chaudhuri, Arunava. "Indian Football "HALL OF FAME" Sayed Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din". indianfootball.de. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
- ^ Nizamuddin, Mohammed (14 July 2018). "Old-timers recollect past glory of city football". Hyderabad, Telangana: The Hans India. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
- ^ "Quadrangular Football: India's Win". The Indian Express. Rangoon, Burma. 25 October 1953. p. 9. Archived from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
- ^ Morrison, Neil (1999). "Asian Quadrangular Tournament (Colombo Cup) 1952–1955: 1953 (Rangoon, Burma)". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022.
- ^ Chaudhuri, Arunava (2000). "The Indian Senior Team at the 1953 Rangoon Quadrangular Cup". indianfootball.de. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- ^ "Melbourne, 1956". FIFA. Archived from the original on 22 January 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- ^ India at the 1955 Quadrangular Cup Archived 4 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine indianfootball.de. Retrieved 5 September 2021
- ^ Arunava Chaudhuri. "The Indian Senior Team at the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games". Indianfootball.de. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- ^ Arunava Chaudhuri. "The Indian Senior Team at the 1959 Merdeka Cup". Indianfootball.de. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- ^ "INDIAN FOOTBALL NEWS (APRIL 2021): Ahmed Hussein, former Olympian footballer passed away". www.kolkatafootball.com. Kolkata. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ Sengupta, Somnath (13 July 2011). "Tactical Evolution of Indian Football (Part Two): Revolution Under Rahim Saab". thehardtackle.com. Kolkata: The Hard Tackle. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
- ^ Biswas, Sudipto (1 November 2019). "Hyderabad Football: Retracing the city's rich legacy in the sport". khelnow.com. Khel Now. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ Banerjee, Ritabrata (25 April 2020). "Down the memory lane: The fascinating story of Hyderabad City Police club". www.goal.com. Goal. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
- ^ Qadiri, Faizan (4 September 2015). "Syed Abdul Rahim: The Indian Ferguson | The visionary who guided India to their greatest success". www.sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
- ^ Bharadwaj, Sathvik K (31 August 2022). "Five most successful Indian football coaches". khelnow.com. Khel Now. Archived from the original on 5 September 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
- ^ Morrison, Neil (1999). "Asian Quadrangular Tournament 1954 (Calcutta, India)". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
- ^ Chaudhuri, Arunava (2000). "The Indian Senior Team at the 1959 Merdeka Cup". www.indianfootball.de. IndianFootball. Archived from the original on 8 June 2018. (information given by Jaydeep Basu, Sunil Warrier, and Gautam Roy).
- ^ "Malaysia national football team 'A' international record: [1959-60 season]". 11v11. Archived from the original on 1 March 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ^ Neil Morrison (10 September 2015). "Merdeka Tournament (Malaysia)". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ^ Kapadia, Novy (27 May 2012). "Memorable moments in the Santosh Trophy". www.sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
Bibliography
edit- Kapadia, Novy (2017). Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0-143-42641-7.
- Martinez, Dolores; Mukharjiim, Projit B (2009). Football: From England to the World: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-88353-6. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022.
- Nath, Nirmal (2011). History of Indian Football: Upto 2009–10. Readers Service. ISBN 9788187891963. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022.
- Dineo, Paul; Mills, James (2001). Soccer in South Asia: Empire, Nation, Diaspora. London, United Kingdom: Frank Cass Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7146-8170-2. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022.
- Majumdar, Boria; Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2006). A Social History Of Indian Football: Striving To Score. Routledge. ISBN 9780415348355. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021.
- Basu, Jaydeep (2003). Stories from Indian Football. UBS Publishers' Distributors. ISBN 9788174764546. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022.
- "Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889—2000" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
Further reading
edit- "এশিয়ান গেমস অনেক দূরে চলে গেছে" [The Asian Games going far away]. kalerkantho.com. Dhaka: কালের কণ্ঠ. 19 September 2014. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
