Kazi Salahuddin (; born 23 September 1953) is a Bangladeshi retired football player currently serving as the president of South Asian Football Federation. He previously served as the president of Bangladesh Football Federation from 2008 to 2024. He was a member of the Shadhin Bangla Football Team, which played across India to raise awareness about the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. He played for and captained the Bangladesh national team, retiring in 1983. Salahuddin is the first football player from the country to play abroad in the professional league in Hong Kong and is considered to be Bangladesh's first professional sports athlete.
In domestic football, he has 163 goals in the First Division and 14 goals in the Dhaka Second Division League. He is the second highest goal scorer in Bangladeshi top-tier football and is one of the two players to have scored 150 goals in domestic football, both his records come second to Sheikh Mohammad Aslam. In international football he has scored 9 goals for the Bangladesh national team in 29 official games. He holds the record of scoring the country's first ever goal at the AFC Asian Cup, coming in their maiden appearance in the tournament in 1980. He has been First Division's top scorer four times, in 1973, 1977, 1979 and 1980.
Salahuddin was appointed as the head coach of Bangladesh on four occasions, in 1985, 1987, 1993 and 1994. As the coach of his former club Dhaka Abahani, he won the First Division in 1985 and 1992. Salahuddin also had less successful coaching spells with Brothers Union and Muktijoddha Sangsad in 1988 and 1994 respectively. As the president of Bangladesh Football Federation, he introduced the Bangladesh Super Cup in 2009 and a second-tier professional league, the Bangladesh Championship League in 2012.
His contribution to football has seen him win numerous accolades, most notably the Independence Day Award in 1996, which is the highest state award in Bangladesh. He was also named as the Sports Writers Association's Best Football Player and Best Coach in 1979 and 1992 respectively.
Early life
Kazi Salahuddin was born on 23 September 1953 to an elite family in Dacca, East Bengal. His father, Kazi Muhammad Shahi, was a businessman, and his mother, Begum Simki Shafi, was a housewife. He belongs to the Kazi family of Rajapur in Faridpur District. The family was founded by Kazi Abdur Rasool, son of Shah Azimuddin, who had been appointed as Kazi in Mughal Bengal.
He was enrolled in BAF Shaheen College Dhaka before moving to Dhaka College and eventually got into Dhaka University. While Salahuddin was in seventh grade at Shaheen College, he became involved with athletics and was selected for his school football team as the youngest member of the team. This attracted the interest of ex-Pakistani international footballer Rashid Chunna. In 1966, he played two matches as a goalkeeper for Gamma Sports Association in the Dhaka Third Division League. In 1968, Salahuddin started playing cricket for Azad Boys in the Premier Division Cricket League. Later that year, at the request of his sports teacher, Salahuddin played as a striker for Dilkusha SC in Dhaka Second Division League. Following a troublesome period, Dilkusha won the championship that season and were promoted to the top-tier, the First Division, while Salahuddin became the second division's highest goal scorer with 14 goals.
In 1968, Salahuddin was called up to the East Pakistan Youth Team for the Pakistan National Youth Championship, and in the following year, Abdul Hashem, impressed by the young striker, signed him for Wari Club in the First Division. In his first league game with Wari, he scored a hat-trick against Rahmatganj MFS, and ended the season with a total of 18 league goals. By his first season at the top-tier, Salahuddin had made a name for himself as the country's youngest football prospect and, in 1970, he was snatched up by Mohammedan SC, the leading club of East Pakistan. Salahuddin spent his debut season as a reserve player, scoring 3 goals in 3 appearances. He netted a brace against Wari Club and added a lone strike against Azad SC. His team eventually withdrew from the league due to a dispute with the East Pakistan Football Federation (EPSF), and when the Bangladesh Liberation War began in 1971, league football was suspended for more than a year.
Playing career
Shadhin Bangla Football Team At the start of 1971, Salahuddin went to West Pakistan to play in the regional championship for Dhaka. After the tournament he was called to join the camp for the Pakistan national team. He came back to Dhaka on 20 March but was only in the country for five days when a planned military pacification carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in erstwhile East Pakistan called Operation Searchlight started.Sarmila Bose Anatomy of Violence: Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971: Military Action: Operation Searchlight Economic and Political Weekly Special Articles, 8 October 2005 His family wanted him to go to London, however, Salahuddin wanted to take part in the Bangladesh Liberation War. His father agreed and he crossed the border to reach Agartala where he joined the training camp for the guerilla soldiers. In 1971, he heard about Shadhin Bangla football team, a team of Bangladeshi football players who played in India to raise money and awareness about the war, from a photo journalist. The journalist, from Kolkata, convinced him to play for the team and explained to him the importance about growing public support for the war. Salahuddin decided to play and went to Kolkata on a Cargo Plane of the Indian Air Force. In Kolkata, he met with many of his teammates from Dhaka and played his first match for the team against Nadia XI, from Nadia district, on 25 July 1971. That day Salahuddin accompanied Enayetur Rahman Khan, in the team's forward line, as the game ended 2–2. He played under an alias; Turya Hazra. After that match, Salahuddin and his teammates played against Mohun Bagan AC, a top team from Kolkata. For diplomatic reasons Mohan Bagan used the name 'Gostha Pal XI'. Gostha Pal, a central defender nicknamed 'the Chinese Wall' had played with great distinction for Mohan Bagan in the early part of the 20th century. Pal was originally from Faridpur, now part of Bangladesh. Salahuddin carried on to play in different parts of India with his team to raise money and create public support for Bangladesh.
Mohammedan SC and Dhaka XI
Following the independence of Bangladesh, Salahuddin came back to the country, and played the first football match in Independent Bangladesh as the Bangladesh XI took on the President XI, on 13 February 1972. Salahuddin's team lost to President XI 0–2. In the same year, he played for Mohammedan during the first edition of the Independence Cup, which was held to celebrate the country's liberation. In the final against East End Club, Salahuddin scored a brace as Mohammedan SC won the game 3–1 (the other goal was scored by Aminul Islam).
On 11 May 1972, India's Mohun Bagan AC, who were the first foreign football club to visit independent Bangladesh, took on Mohammedan SC (as they were the first Independence Cup champions), again as the "Gostha Pal XI", as Bangladesh were not a FIFA member at the time. After losing the first friendly (1–0), with Salahuddin and majority of the MSC squad were called up to the "Dhaka XI" squad.
On 13 May, Mohun Bagan took on the "Dhaka XI", who were the unofficial Bangladesh national team, consisting of the best players in the country at the time. The game was highly anticipated, with Bangladesh's president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (a former footballer himself) present at the Dhaka Stadium to witness the game. Salahuddin volley earned Dhaka XI the win, a goal which was later praised by Mohun Bagan's Chuni Goswami, while the Kolkata team's captain Syed Nayeemuddin even went on to say that the goal was one of the best he had seen.
During the latter stages of 1972, Salahuddin and the Dhaka XI took part in India's Guwahati to partake in the Bordoloi Trophy. He became the first Bangladeshi player to score on foreign soil, as the Dhaka XI defeated George Telegraph 2–0 (Nowsheruzzaman scored the other goal). His team finished the tournament as runner-up, losing to East Bengal in the final, and by the end of the year, Salahuddin had established himself as Bangladesh's first sports icon.
Success with Abahani
In 1972, Sheikh Kamal, Mujib's son and the chief patron of Abahani Krira Chakra, asked him to join the newly formed club, which was the first club formed in independent Bangladesh. Salahuddin refused and told him that he would only join if the team was strong. In the meantime during the football off season, he played cricket for Azad Boys and made his career best score of 94 runs against Abahani cricket team. Eventually he decided to focus more on football and refused a call from the national cricket squad. By that time Kamal had managed to sign seven national team members for Abahani, including players from the country's top three clubs Mohammedan SC, Dhaka Wanderers and Team BJMC. Eventually, Salahuddin joined the team before the 1972 Dhaka First Division Football League got underway.
In 1973, Salahuddin became the first player after independence to score 7 goals in a league game, as Abahani thrashed his former club Dilkusha SC 10–0. The other goal scorers were, Abdul Ghafoor (Scooter), Amalesh Sen and Golam Sarwar Tipu. A few days before Salahuddin, Mohammedan's Hafizuddin Ahmed became the first player in independent Bangladesh to score a double hat trick in the First Division.
Aside from his short stint in Hong Kong, Salahuddin stayed at Abahani until his retirement as a player in 1984. He won the First Division title with the sky blues in 1974, 1977, 1981, 1983, and 1984. He was the highest scorer in the league for four seasons, first in 1973 when he scored 24 goals, then again in 1977 and 1979 respectively with 14 goals, and for the last time in the 1980 First Division with 15 goals. In 1974, he had also scored 15 goals however, finished as the second top scorer with one less than Dilkusha's striker Golam Shahid Neelu. In 1975, Salahuddin scored 18 goals for runners-up, Abahani. In 1978, during an injury hit season, he scored 8 goals in 7 games. He was also lethal in continental competition, scoring a brace against Afghanistan in the Aga Khan Gold Cup in 1979.
Throughout his Abahani career he had great understanding with the attacking midfielders. Monwar Hossain Nannu, Amalesh Sen and Kurshed Babul provided him with plenty of assists. Also, his combination with left winger Ashrafuddin Ahmed Chunnu served both the club and then national team greatly for almost a decade. Two of his most memorable goals for Abahani, came in a long distance winner against Rahmantganj MFS during Abahani's journey to the league title that year, and in 1979 when he scored against Kolkata Mohammedan from India.
In September 1982, Abahani star players, Kazi Salahuddin, Chunnu, Golam Rabbani Helal and Kazi Anwar were arrested after a league game against Mohammedan SC, due to violently protesting the referee's decision. However, the court held them accountable for conspiring a military coup against Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who was the country's dictator at the time. Salahuddin and Chunnu were given a sentence of one month while the others were sent to jail for 6 months. However, with local football's popularity at the time being at its peak, all four footballers were released after 17 days, due to massive protests all over the country. The event was later branded as the "Black September" of Bangladeshi football.