Hussain Ahmed

Some Lesser Known Facts About Hussain Ahmed

• Hussain Ahmed made 11 international appearances for India. He is a well-known face of the Indian football team of the 1950s, which is remembered as the golden generation of Indian footballers.

• He is remembered as one of the greatest stopper backs of the country, who played as a centre-half and centre-back defender.

• Hussain Ahmed was popularly known as ‘The Great Wall of India’ for his defensive techniques.

• His most remembered matches were the 1951 Asian Games and the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

• Hussain Ahmed’s football journey began during his college days with the Osmania University football team. This team won the All India inter-varsity title in 1954.

• His football career began after he joined the Hyderabad City Police Club and came under the training of the legendary coach Syed Abdul Rahim.

• From Hyderabad City Police, Hussain Ahmed was selected for the 1951 Asian Games in which India won a gold medal.

• He played for state team Hyderabad for consecutively 3 years. The team rose to prominence after winning the Santosh trophy in 1956. He played as a central defender at this time.

• Hussain Ahmed represented the Indian football team at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, where India became the first ever Asian nation to reach the semi-finals in Olympic football. They defeated the host team Australia by 4-2 in the quarter-finals.

  

• In 1957, Hussain Ahmed moved to Kolkata where he played for the Mohammedan Sporting and Mohun Bagan Clubs for a decade. He served as the captain of the team.

• He represented the Indian football team at the Asian Games 1958, which was held in Tokyo. They finished 4th after losing to Indonesia.

• In 1959, Hussain Ahmed played in the Merdeka Tournament where the Indian football team stood as the runners-up.

  

• He marked a victory for the Mohammedan Sporting Club in 1959 when his team won the Rovers Cup under his captainship.
• In all, Hussain Ahmed won 6 Rovers Cup and 3 Durand Cups.

• He was the team’s captain when India won the Aga Khan Gold Cup for the first time in 1960 in Dhaka. This time also he was representing the Mohammedan Sporting Club.

• Hussain Ahmed suffered from dementia for many years before death. He was also fighting mild heart conditions.

• After completing his tenure as a football player, he aspired to be a football coach. Hussain did two football coaching diplomas (one from India and another one from Germany), following which he was posted at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in the South Centre of Bengaluru.

• Hussain directed the Stafford Cup tournament (a national-level football tournament in South India) as the coach of SAI. He also directed a few local matches in the City Garden in Bengaluru.

• He served as a referee in some matches but quit due to conflicting views about the game’s rules with CIL football association.

• Hussain Ahmed became the coach of Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NSNIS), where he coached players like Carlton Chapman, Karunakar Raj, Dakshina Murthy, Louis Nixon, and Annappa Kumar.

• He also coached the Indian team for the President Cup, held in Seoul.

• Hussain Ahmed was felicitated for his 1956 Summer Olympics contribution in 2009 by the sports minister, Dr. Manohar Singh Gill.

  

• He was also known as Hussain Ahmed Lala and Hussain Saab.

• Olympian S. S. Hakim and Hussain’s team player for the Osmania University once remarked,
  

  Hussain was one of the giants of the Indian football team…Despite his glorious achievements he never received any honours from the government. He truly deserved a Padma Sri.’’

• Hussain was fond of chewing ‘paan’ (an Indian treat).