T. Abdul Rahman (Footballer)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Abdul Rahman

• T. Abdul Rahman was interested in football since childhood. When studying in 4th standard, he told his father that he wanted to become a footballer and quit school because he was not interested in studies. His father agreed, and he stopped going to school, focusing solely on football.

• He started playing in local football games during his teenage years and later played in national leagues. In 1954, he helped the Malabar team to reach the semi-final of the Rovers Cup.

  

• He was a member of the Indian football team which played in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. At that time, he was only 21 years old.

  

• In April 2024, a Bollywood film ‘Maidaan’ was released which featured Ajay Devgn as Syed Abdul Rahim, the coach of the Indian football team which qualified for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

• Rahman played in 9 seasons of the Santosh Trophy for Bengal between 1955 and 1966 and helped them win 4 seasons.

  

• In 1959, he helped the Indian football team to emerge as runner-up of the Merdeka Tournament. Due to an injury, he was not selected for the 1960 Rome Olympics.

• In 1962, he was the captain of the Bangalore (now Bengaluru) team that won the 1962 Santosh Trophy.

• After his retirement, he became a coach and trained players of various football clubs such as Mohammedan Sporting, Premier Tyres, and Travancore Titanium.

  

• As a spectator, Rahman once attended a match between East Bengal FC and Mohammedan Sporting Club at the Mohun Bagan Stadium in Kolkata in 1984. During half-time, he entered the football field and attacked East Bengal coach Pradip Kumar Banerjee as he believed that Banerjee did not pick Sethumadhavan, a footballer, in the Indian football team.

• During his late 50s, he once went to see a match where one of his trained players hit a goal with a reverse kick. He got excited upon seeing it, entered the field, and kissed the player on the cheek. He later ran back to the stands while shouting sorry to the referee.

  

• He died on 15 December 2002 in Calicut at the age of 68.

  

• In 2005, the Kozhikode District Football Association (KDFA) created the Olympian Rehman Memorial Academy of Football.

• In 2013, a stadium was opened in Kozhikode named Olympian Rahman Stadium.

• On 29 October 2018, a special postal cover was released in his memory.