19 Facts About Shabbir Ali

Shabbir Ali was born on 26 January 1956 and is an Indian football manager and former player.

Shabbir Ali was awarded the Dhyan Chand Award, the highest award in Indian sports for lifetime achievement, given by Government of India in 2011.

Shabbir Ali is the first footballer to be named for the Dhyan Chand Award.

Arguably the finest striker of his time, Shabbir was a prolific goal scorer both at the national and international level.

Shabbir Ali rose to fame at a very early age when he captained India to win the Asian Youth championships in Bangkok jointly with Iran in 1974, a performance which even earned praise from the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

Shabbir Ali scored 23 goals in international matches and remains one of India's all-time top scorers, ahead of Chuni Goswami, PK Banerjee, Inder Singh and Baichung Bhutia among others.

Only five footballers in India have scored an international hat-trick; of those, Shabbir Ali's is the fastest.

For 12 years between 1972 and 1984, Shabbir Ali was an automatic choice with the national team of India, be it Asian Youth, Asian Games, pre-Olympics, Asian Cup, Merdeka Cup tournament, Nehru Gold Cup, King's Cup or any other goodwill tour.

Shabbir Ali captained India in Asian Youth, pre-Olympics, Nehru Cup, Merdeka and King's Cup tournaments.

Shabbir Ali gained fame when Arun Ghosh managed India U-20 team under his captaincy, went on to share the 1974 AFC Youth Championship title with Iran-20, in which he scored five goals.

Shabbir Ali appeared in 1976 Jasson Cup held in Afghanistan, with Indian team managed by Jarnail Singh.

Shabbir Ali played 66 international matches for India and scored 23 goals from 1974 to 1984 and was one of the highest ranked goal scorers on the basis of strike rate per match.

Shabbir Ali earned a first class diploma from the Sports Authority of India.

Shabbir Ali successfully passed the German football association B License coach and their four-week coaching course, which is equivalent to A License.

Shabbir Ali remained the Technical Director till the pre-World Cup tournament in Qatar next year.

Between 1997 and 1999, Shabbir Ali managed top Goan outfit Salgaocar and established himself as India's best coach.

Shabbir Ali then took the team to Bombay and won the Rovers Cup.

Shabbir Ali is included in the board of eminent players of the AIFF.

Beside football, Shabbir Ali was appointed and worked as Scale-I officer of Allahabad Bank.