# Nabi Chowdhury

Nurunnabi Chowdhury (Bengali: নুরুন্নবী চৌধুরী; 1934 – January 2003), better known as Nabi Chowdhury, was a former Bangladeshi football player and the first East Pakistani or Bengali to captain the Pakistan national football team.

## Early life

Nabi Chowdhury was born in Aziz Fazilpur village in the Feni sub-division of Noakhali District, Bengal.

## Club career

Nabi began his career in inter-school football, representing Comilla Victoria College while simultaneously playing in the Cumilla Football League with Pak United. In 1952, he joined the Pakistan Air Force and, under the recommendation of veteran striker Moideen Kutty, represented Pakistan Air Force FC in the Inter-Service Championship until 1954.
He earned recognition while playing for Dhaka Wanderers from 1954 to 1956, winning a hat-trick of First Division titles during his tenure there. In 1958, he represented Mohammedan SC in the IFA Shield in Calcutta, India. In the same year, he captained PWD Sports Club in the inaugural edition of the Aga Khan Gold Cup held in Dhaka.
In 1958, he left his duties at the Pakistan Air Force and, the following year, joined the East Pakistan Police, representing its football team until his retirement in 1968.

## International career
### East Pakistan

In 1957, Nabi participated in the National Football Championship held in Dhaka as a member of the eventual runners-up, East Pakistan Whites. He played as a center-half, alongside fullbacks Amir Jang Ghaznavi and Eugene Gomes. He scored in the first round against Pakistan Navy FC in a 5–2 victory on 22 October, during which Ashraf Chowdhury scored a hat-trick. In the final against Punjab, held in Dhaka Stadium on 10 November, Nabi was forced to leave the field for five minutes after sustaining a nose injury, during which time his team conceded a goal and would eventually go on to lost the game 1–2.
In the 1958 edition of the National Championship helf in Multan, Nabi captained East Pakistan, as his team exited the tournament in the quarter-final, falling 1–3 to Punjab Reds, the junior string of the team they had faced in the previous year's final. On 16 October 1959, Nabi represented East Pakistan during an exhibition match in Gujranwala against the local Al Hilal Club, scoring the winner in a 2–1 victory from a direct corner after Shah Alam scored the first for East Pakistan.
Nabi remained part of the East Pakistan team during the 1959 National Championship held in Hyderabad, where his team again finished runners-up, losing to 0–1 to Baluchistan in the final held on 7 November 1959. Eventually, in the following edition held in Karachi, he was part of the East Pakistan team that won its maiden National Championship, defeating Karachi White 1–0 in the final held on 27 November 1960.
Following 1960, when the EP Sports Federation began sending divisional teams to the National Championship, Nabi started representing the Chittagong Division. In January 1961, he represented East Pakistan in two exhibition matches against the touring Burma national team in Dhaka and Chittagong.

### Pakistan

Nabi made his debut for the Pakistan national team during the 1954 Manila Asian Games. Prior to the tournament, he participated in an 80-minute exhibition game against Singapore in Kallang, which ended in a 2–2 draw.
He later participated in both the 1954 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament and 1955 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament, with the latter held on home soil, in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). In 1956, he represented Pakistan during a series of friendlies against Singapore, China and Ceylon. Nabi captained Pakistan at the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games, the first Bengali to do so. The team, including six Bengali players, tied the first game 1–1 with South Vietnam and lost its final game 1–3 to the Republic of China. Prior to the tournament, he captained the team during exhibition matches against the likes of Malaya and Singapore.

## Organizing career

Nabi served as the chairman of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) national team selection committee from 1973 to 1974 and as the general secretary in 1979. He was a member for four terms, specifically in 1975, 1977, 1982, and 1992–1993. Nabi played an integral role in selecting the first Bangladesh national football team alongside Sheikh Shaheb Ali, Manzur Hasan Mintu, and Ranjit Das for the 1973 Merdeka Cup. He served as the team manager of the Bangladesh U20 team under Werner Bickelhaupt at the 1978 AFC Youth Championship in Dhaka.

## Death

Nabi died of diabetes-related complications in January 2004.

## Honours

Dhaka Wanderers
* Dhaka First Division League: 1954, 1955, 1956
* Pakistan Day Football Tournament: 1955
* Independence Day Cup: 1956
East Pakistan White
* National Championship runner-up: 1957
East Pakistan
* National Championship: 1960; runner-up: 1959
Pakistan
* Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament runner-up: 1955
Individual
* National Sports Award of Bangladesh: 1978