Syed Sabir Pasha (born 5 November 1972) is a former Indian football player and current technical director at the All India Football Federation. During his playing days, Pasha played for Indian Bank in the National Football League from 1991 to 2007 and represented India between 1993 and 2000.
Playing career Born in Tamil Nadu, Pasha started his career with Indian Bank in 1991. With Indian Bank, he won several titles including 2001–02 I-League Second Division, Chennai Super League,India regional tournaments 1997/98 Rsssf. Retrieved 16 August 2021 Tamil Nadu State League. He also won Lal Bahadur Shastri Cup in 1998List of Winners/Runners-Up of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Cup: indianfootball.de. Retrieved 15 August 2021 and finished runners-up in 1996 Scissors Cup.List of Winners/Runners-Up of the Scissors Cup: Kerala indianfootball.de. Retrieved 15 August 2021List of Winners/Runners-Up of the Scissors Cup jctfootball.com. Retrieved 15 August 2021
Pasha played for Bangladeshi club Abahani Limited Dhaka in the Dhaka Premier League from 1999 to 2000.
Pasha later represented Tamil Nadu in competitions such as the Santosh Trophy where he was top scorer in the entire competition during the 1996 and 1999 seasons. Pasha never played football at a semi-professional level in the hotbeds of Indian football of Kolkata and Goa at the time. East Bengal, at one time, did attempt to sign Pasha but Pasha rejected in order to stay with Indian Bank.
On 23 January 2007, it was announced that Pasha had retired from playing football.
International career Pasha first began representing India at the international level in 1993. His most notable moment when playing for the national team was in 1995 when he scored the winning goal against Bangladesh in the 1995 South Asian Games final to win India the gold medal.
It was always wondered if whether Pasha representing a team in Tamil Nadu was going against him or not in terms of his standing with the national team. Despite his good performances with the national team whenever he played, Pasha only played a full-game with the national team on a couple of occasions.
International goals Scores and results list India's goal tally first.
Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Source1. 14 January 1994 Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar rowspan="2" align="center" 1994 Qatar Independence Cup 2. 4–03. 27 December 1995 Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai, India rowspan="1" align="center" 1995 South Asian Games 4. 26 April 1999 Fatorda Stadium, Goa, India rowspan="1" align="center" 1999 SAFF Gold Cup 5. 26 September 1999 Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu, Nepal rowspan="1" align="center" 1999 South Asian Games 6. 4 October 1999 Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu, Nepal rowspan="1" align="center" 1999 South Asian Games 7. 26 November 1999 Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium, Dubai, Abu Dhabi rowspan="1" align="center" 2000 AFC Asian Cup Qualifier
Coaching career
Indian Bank and Tamil Nadu After retiring from playing football, Pasha went on to become the coach of Indian Bank. In 2010, Pasha received his AFC "A" License after completing the course in Japan. In 2012, he was appointed as the head coach of the Tamil Nadu football team for the Santosh Trophy. In his very first season as head coach, Pasha bought Tamil Nadu to the final of the 2012 Santosh Trophy but could not help his side win as they fell to Services 2–3.
AIFF Elite Academy Before the 2014–15 I-League U19 season, Pasha was confirmed as the head coach of the AIFF Elite Academy.
Chennaiyin On 17 February 2016, it was announced that Pasha had signed with Chennaiyin FC as their assistant coach and head of grassroots development.
Honours India SAFF Championship: 1999; runner-up: 1995 South Asian Games Gold medal: 1995; Bronze medal: 1999
See also
List of Indian expatriate footballers
References
External links Syed Sabir Pasha at the AIFF official website