Masood Fakhri

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Masood Fakhri
Masood Fakhri.jpg
Fakhri with Mohammedan Sporting in 1955
Personal information
Full name Masood Fakhri
Date of birth 1932
Place of birth Toba Tek Singh, Punjab, British India
Date of death 6 September 2016(2016-09-06) (aged 83–84)
Place of death Bangor, Wales
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Pakistan Raiders Club
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1952–1954 East Bengal
1955–1956 Mohammedan
1956–1957 Bradford City 0 (0)
National team
1952–1956 Pakistan[1]
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Masood Fakhri (1932 – 6 September 2016) was a Pakistani professional footballer who played as a forward.[2][3] A former Pakistani international, Fakhri was well known for his time with Indian Kolkata clubs East Bengal and Mohammedan.[4][5][6][7] He also played in England with Bradford City before retiring.

Club career[]

Life and early career[]

Fakhri was born in 1932 in Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan, long before Saadat Hasan Manto’s highly-acclaimed short story immortalised the town.

He began his career in his home country with Pakistan Raiders Club.[8]

East Bengal[]

In 1952, when he moved to India, was a 20-year-old youngster and signed with Calcutta Football League side East Bengal.[9][10][11] During his first season with the club Fakhri helped his side win the Calcutta Football League alongside the prestigious Durand Cup.[12][13][8] Fakhri usually played as a left-winger and had scored 14 goals in the Calcutta Football League alongside scoring the winning goals in his first two matches against East Bengal's biggest rivals, Mohun Bagan, and thus became a fan favorite among East Bengal supporters.[8] Fakhri helped the team winning the DCM Trophy and was also part of the East Bengal side to play tournament and friendly matches in Europe.[8]

Fakhri went on to play for two more seasons at the club. In 1953, he was part of the senior team’s tour to the Romanian Youth Festival in Bucharest, where they faced teams like FC Torpedo Moscow.[14]

Mohammedan Sporting[]

In 1955, Fakhri signed with another Kolkata club, Mohammedan. In 1956, he helped Mohammedan winning the prestigious Rovers Cup title.[8]

Bradford City[]

Bert Flatley, a coach with the Football Association (FA) in England, communicated to Fakhri the possibility of a move to Bradford City. The club then competed in the third tier of English football league system. After negotiations with the then manager Peter Jackson, Fakhri finally signed for the club on 8 August 1956 In 1956. After playing one season with the club, he prematurely quit football due to personal reasons in 1957.[8][15]

International[]

Fakhri had represented Pakistan at international level in the preceding years.[16] Fakhri had most notably scored a hat-trick and became the first player from South Asia to do so as Pakistan thumped Singapore 6-2 in a group match at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila, Philippines. He had also scored goals against India and Myanmar during the period.[17]

Personal life[]

Fakhri married Rhoda Eileen and lived in Llanrwst, North Wales. His brother's family settled in Great Britain as well.

Post-retirement[]

After retiring from football, Fakhri lived out the rest of his life living in Bangor Teifi, Wales.[8]

He died in September 2016 in Wales.[18]

Honours[]

Club[]

East Bengal
Mohammedan Sporting

International[]

Pakistan
Champions (1): 1952
Runners-up (3): 1953, 1954, 1955

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "An uneven rivalry". 11 September 2018.
  2. ^ "A history of football in Pakistan — Part I". Dawn.com (Pakistan). Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  3. ^ "I.C.L. and East Bengal Draw for the Third Time - Pak Players Included in Calcuta Side - Bombay Team Lodge Protest After Match". The Indian Express. 4 October 1953. Archived from the original on 5 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  4. ^ soumen78 (31 March 2016). "List of Foreign Players to Play for East Bengal Club from 1942 – East Bengal Club, India – Records, Funs and Facts". Eastbengalclubrecords.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  5. ^ "TEAM ARCHIVES - East Bengal FC". Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  6. ^ "TEAM ARCHIVES - East Bengal FC". Archived from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  7. ^ Masood Fakhri: Pakistan’s Football Wizard Who Captivated Kolkata Maidan [NDTV] footballpakistan.com. Retrieved 3 July 2021
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Sarmah, Bhargab (17 September 2016). "Masood Fakhri: Pakistan's Football Wizard Who Captivated Kolkata Maidan". NDTV Sports. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  9. ^ The World Sports Today (1 August 2020). "100 years of East Bengal: A timeline of Kolkata giant's key milestones". The World Sports Today. Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  10. ^ Basu, Joydeep (25 January 2021). "Indian football: Fred Pugsley, Chima Okorie, Ranti Martins – the foreign strikers who shone in India". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  11. ^ Banerjee, Ritabrata (16 May 2020). "Indian Football - The 10 best foreigners to have played for East Bengal". Goal. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  12. ^ Sen, Debayan (1 August 2020). "A century of excellence: East Bengal's greatest hits". ESPN. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  13. ^ Chatterjee, Sayan (6 April 2021). "Top 5 foreign footballers to have played in India". Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Soccer Barefoot 1953 (21.08) Torpedo (Ussr) - East Bengal Club (India)- 3-3. Aleks Chistogan – thewikihow". www.thewikihow.com.
  15. ^ Legendary Pakistani footballer Masood Fakhri silently passes away at 83 in Wales sportscrunch.in. Retrieved 3 July 2021
  16. ^ Kapadia, Novy (24 April 1983). "Puran Bahadur Thapa: India's first hat-trick man". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  17. ^ Bhattacharya, Nilesh (13 September 2016). "Masood Fakhri, ex-East Bengal football star from Pakistan, no more". Times of India. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  18. ^ Masood Fakhri, ex-East Bengal football star from Pakistan, no more The Times of India. Retrieved 3 July 2021
  19. ^ Armband (9 November 2019). "East Bengal Football Club : History and Emergence". Sports-nova. Archived from the original on 9 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  20. ^ Banerjee, Ritabrata (12 April 2020). "Indian Football: Down the memory lane – East Bengal's 'Golden era' of 1970s". www.goal.com. Goal. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  21. ^ "Asian Quadrangular Tournament (Colombo Cup) 1952-1955". RSSSF. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  22. ^ "The Indian National Team at the Colombo Cup". indianfootball.de. Retrieved 29 September 2021.

External links[]

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