# Sheikh Shaheb Ali

Sheikh Shaheb Ali (Bengali: শেখ সাহেব আলী; 1 July 1915 – 1 June 2004) was a Bangladeshi football player and coach. He is the only East Pakistani to have both played for and coached the Pakistan national football team. He was the first head coach of the Bangladesh national football team, guiding them at the 1973 Merdeka Cup. He holds the record of coaching Bangladesh to their first ever victory in international football.
Ali was a key member of the Dhaka Mohammedan team that made its First Division League debut in 1938. He also represented the East Pakistan football team both as a player and a coach, while also earning the honor of captaining the side. Later, he guided the team to its first National Football Championship as a coach. From 1960 to 1962, he won three consecutive National Championship titles as coach of East Pakistan and Dacca Division, respectively.
Aside from representing the Pakistan national team, Ali played for the Dacca football team in the Santosh Trophy from 1943 to 1945. He also appeared in a few matches for Kolkata Mohammedan in West Bengal.
Ali received both the Pride of Performance Award from Pakistan and the National Sports Award from Bangladesh. He also enjoyed a successful career as a FIFA referee, officiating in both domestic and continental competitions. Ali was also a member of the Bangladesh Football Federation following his retirement from coaching. Ali also played a major role in the administration of Kabaddi following the independence of Bangladesh.

## Early life

Sheikh Shaheb Ali was born in Matuail area of Dacca, on 1 July 1915. He began his football career at Kabi Nazrul Government College, where he was a student and after graduation joined the newly formed Dhaka Mohammedan.

## Club career

Ali began his domestic football career in 1936, playing for Dhaka Mohammedan in the Second Division. In 1938, he was part of the club’s first-ever First Division team. However, the following year, Mohammedan was unable to form a team for the competition, forcing Ali to leave. He joined Victoria SC later that year. In 1942, while playing for Victoria SC in the Ronald Shield, he gained experience as a makeshift goalkeeper. Two years later, in 1944, he represented Wari Club in the IFA Shield in West Bengal. Wari reached the quarter-finals but were eliminated by Mohun Bagan AC, with Ali playing as an outside-left.
Ali represented Dacca in the 1944–45 Santosh Trophy, where his team were defeated by Bengal in the preliminary round held on home ground. He also played for Dacca in the 1945–46 Santosh Trophy in Bombay, where his team were knocked-out after a 0–3 defeat to the hosts. Ali also played for Kolkata Mohammedan in 1945, following an offer from the club's football secretary Abdul Rashid and captain Mohammad Shahjahan. He notably played in a pre-season match against Barrackpur Army, a team only consisiting of British players. The game had to abandoned following the death of a British player during the game.
Following the partition of India, he played for Dhaka Wanderers in the First Division, and was league champion in both 1950 and 1951. He played in both the 1954 and 1955 editions of the IFA Shield for Dhaka Wanderers and Wari Club, respectively, while employed in the Fire Service. He retired from playing in 1957 after captaining the East Pakistan Green team at the National Football Championship.

## International career

Ali and another Bengali player, Nabi Chowdhury, represented the Pakistan national football team at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila, Philippines.

## Coaching career
### Pakistan

Ali started his career as a referee in 1943 and became a FIFA referee by 1962, while working with the Pakistan Football Federation which he joined in 1958. He later trained both the East Pakistan and Dhaka University football teams. In 1960, under his guidance, East Pakistan won the National Football Championship. Ali was rewarded with the head coach role of the Pakistan national team at the 1960 Merdeka Cup, where Pakistan finished in fourth place by claiming victories against both Japan (3–1) and Thailand (7–0). Ali completed a hat-trick of individual National Football Championship triumphs, this time guiding Dhaka Division to the title in both 1961 and 1962. He again took charge of the Pakistan national team in 1963 for four friendly matches against the touring China national team. Ali remained in charge of Pakistan during the 1964 Summer Olympics qualifiers against Iran, as the team failed to advance to the main round on goal average, losing the first leg in Tehran 1–4 before consolidating a 1–0 victory in the second leg held in Lahore. In 1965, he completed advanced coaching and refereeing training in London.

### Bangladesh

After the Independence of Bangladesh, Ali guided the President's XI team against Bangladesh XI, in the first football match in the newly liberated country, on 13 February 1972. Ali's President's XI team won the game 2–0 with goals from Golam Sarwar Tipu and Scooter Gafoor. On 13 May 1972, Ali served as the head coach of "Dhaka XI", the unofficial Bangladesh national team (not affiliated with a FIFA Confederation), in a match against Mohun Bagan. Dhaka XI striker Kazi Salahuddin scored the only goal in front of more than 35,000 spectators at the Dhaka Stadium. Later that year, he again coached Dhaka XI, travelling to India's Guwahati to take part in the Bordoloi Trophy. The team finished runners-up behind East Bengal Club.
In July 1973, Ali travelled to Malaysia as the head coach of the first Bangladesh national football team, when they took part in the Merdeka Cup. Bangladesh tied their first two games, 2–2 against Thailand and 1–1 against South Vietnam. Other than the 0–6 thrashing at the hands of Burma the team managed respectable results losing 1–2 against Kuwait and drawing with Singapore (1–1). They finished their Malaysia tour with a 0–2 defeat against Thailand. On their way back, Ali's side played a friendly in Singapore and earned their first international football win by defeating the hosts 1–0.
In September 1979, Ali was put incharge of the national team again, as Bangladesh partook in the Korean President's Cup, during the tournament Ali guided Bangladesh to only their third ever international victory, with a 3–1 thrashing of Sri Lanka. However, his side also suffered their biggest ever defeat, as hosts South Korea outplayed them with a 0–9 scoreline. Ali was the technical advisor of BJMC in 1979 and head coach of Victoria SC in 1983. He retired from all football activities after working with the executive committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation from 1992 to 1993.

## Personal life

Ali was one of the architects behind Sonali Otit Club, which is an organisation made of former footballers. His son, Showkat Ali Selim, is also a retired footballer.

## Legacy

Following his retirement as a football referee in 1971, Ali, a former Kabaddi player himself, began coaching the Bangladesh national kabaddi team and was the team's first coach during their inaugural international match against India in 1974. Ali later served as the chief sports coach of the National Sports Council from 1977 to 1983.
Ali also pioneered the beginning of women's football in Bangladesh, arranging a training camp at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College in 1977.

## Death

On 1 June 2004, Ali died in his home in Gopibagh, Dhaka. He left behind his wife, three sons and six daughters.

## Managerial statistics

    As of 16 September 1979
| Team | From | To | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Team | From | To | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Pakistan | 5 August 1960 | 14 August 1960 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 050.00 |
| Pakistan | 27 January 1963 | 3 November 1963 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 033.33 |
| Bangladesh | 13 May 1972 | 13 August 1973 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 14 | −8 | 014.29 |
| Bangladesh | 15 August 1979 | 16 September 1979 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 16 | −12 | 025.00 |

## Honours
### Player

Dhaka Wanderers Club
* Dhaka First Division League: 1950, 1951

### Manager

Dhaka XI
* Bordoloi Trophy runner-up: 1972
East Pakistan
* National Football Championship: 1960; runner-up: 1959
Dhaka Division
* National Football Championship: 1961–62, 1962

### Awards and accolades

* 1966 − Pride of Performance Awards.
* 1977 − National Sports Awards.