Nikhil Nandy

Some Lesser Known Facts About Nikhil Nandy

• Nikhil Nandy started playing football at an early age with his brother at his home.

• Reportedly, he was excluded from the Indian football team for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics which made him sad. The next day, he vowed in front of his family that he would get selected for the 1956 Olympic team at any cost.

• He was a member of the Bengal team that won the Santosh Trophy in 1955.

  

• Nikhil Nandy was a member of the famous Indian football team that finished 4th in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics; those years are also known as the Golden Era of Indian Football.

  

• 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.

• He also helped the Indian team to enter the semi-finals of the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo.

• In 1958, he won the Calcutta Football League (CFL) as a member of the Eastern Railway team.

  

• After retiring from football, he became a coach. He also served as joint coach (with J. Krishnaswamy) of the Indian football team for several years.

• He continued giving free football training to teenagers in Kolkata at a local ground in Kolkata.

  

• In 2003, he underwent treatment at SSKM Hospital, Kolkata for prostate gland problems.

  

• Nandy once said that he and other footballers of his era were not given enough credit for their achievements and felt that they were not managed properly by the Indian football management.

• In 2009, he received a cheque of Rs 25,000 from the All India Football Federation (AIFF). A few days before receiving the cheques, they had requested a pension and railway gold pass for ex-Olympians and ex-Indian international players

• A few days after receiving the cheques, he, along with Badru Banerjee and Tulsidas Balaram held a press conference and returned the cheque as a protest. ^[3]Mohun Bagan Club

• He was a celebrated figure in the Kolkata football circuit and was often invited as chief guest in many tournaments.

  

• He developed Dementia during his late 70s due to which his family members often had to constraint him to home.

  

• In September 2021, Nikhil Nandy contracted COVID-19 due to which he developed some renal problems. He was hospitalised for a month and later returned to his home but his treatment was continued. His body later stopped responding to the treatment, and he died on 29 December 2020.

  

• He and his elder brothers have represented India in the Olympics. His brothers, Santosh and Anil, played in the 1948 London Olympics, and he played in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

• Nikhil Nandy liked calling himself ‘a man of maidan.’