Rizvi Karim Rumi

Rizvi Karim Rumi (Bengali: রিজভী করিম রুমি; born 18 May 1968) is a retired Bangladeshi professional footballer who played both as a winger and as a striker for the Bangladesh national football team.^[1][2] He spent most of his career with Abahani Limited and also had a brief stint with Calcutta Football League club East Bengal.^[3]

Club career[]

Rumi started his career with the BRTC Office Team, which played in small tournaments all over Dhaka. Rizvi finished as the joint top scorer alongside Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir, when his BRTC team took part in the 1987 Federation Cup. This led to him being scouted by Dhaka League giants Abahani Limited, and he signed for the club on 16 August 1988. During the next 3 years, Rumi went onto win the Dhaka League in 1989–90, the Federation Cup in 1988 and also the 1990 Independence Cup. Rumi's brilliant performances with the Abahani earned him a chance to move abroad, he signed for East Bengal in the Calcutta Football League. He was one of three players from Bangladesh that signed for the "Red and Gold Brigade", with Monem Munna and Sheikh Aslam joining him in Kolkata in 1991.^[4] He won the league title during his first year at the club, and returned to Abahani in 1993 where he was named the clubs captain. In 1996, Rumi joined fellow title challengers Muktijoddha Sangsad KC, after the gentleman's agreement between the country's three biggest clubs, Abahani, Mohammedan and Brothers Union, to lower the salaries of their star players. Nevertheless, Rumi returned to Abahani the following year and again won the Federation Cup in 1997, which ended up being the last trophy he won. And, the following season, after suffering from continuous injuries for the past few seasons, Rumi retired in 1998, as one of the finest strikers Bangladesh ever produced.^[5]

Transfer drama[]

In 1989, Abahani's greatest rivals, Mohammedan wanted to sign Rumi. However, their Iranian coach Nasser Hejazi who was also the coach of the Bangladesh national football team at the time, went against the clubs officials, as he did not want to sign the player without Abahani's permission. Rumi, later stated that he did not want to leave as well, as he wanted to play alongside teammate Monem Munna, who he had been playing with ever since the start of his professional career.^[6]

International career[]

Rumi made his debut for Bangladesh during the 1988 AFC Asian Cup qualification. He is well known for scoring a brace against India in the 1991 South Asian Games.^[7][8] However, his most memorable goal for the country came against Japan during the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, a game Bangladesh ended up losing 4–1. He retired from playing international football in 1994.^[9]

References[]