Syed Abdul Rahim

Rahim Saab as manager ofIndia during their golden era
Personal information
Full name	Syed Abdul Rahim[1]
Date of birth	(1909-08-17)17 August 1909
Place of birth	Hyderabad,Hyderabad State,British India
Date of death	11 June 1963(1963-06-11) (aged 53)
Place of death	Hyderabad,Andhra Pradesh, India
Youth career
1927–1931	Osmania University
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1943	Qamar Club
1950	HSV Hoek
Managerial career
1950–1963	Hyderabad City Police (head coach & secretary)
1950–1963	India
1958–1959	Hyderabad
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Syed Abdul Rahim (17 August 1909 – 11 June 1963), popularly known asRahim Saab,^[2] was anIndian football coach and manager of theIndia national team^[3] from 1950 until his death in 1963, and a former player.^[4][5][6] He is regarded as the architect of modern Indian football.^[7] A teacher by profession,^[8] he was a strong motivator^[9] and his tenure as a coach is regarded as the "golden age" of football in India.^[10][11][12]

Under his stewardship, the India national team earned superiority in both technical qualities and tactical innovations, and got the nickname "Brazil of Asia".^[13][14] They went on to wingold medals inAsian Games of—(1951-Delhi and1962-Jakarta), played semi-finals of theSummer Olympics—(1956-Melbourne)^[15] making India the first everAsian country to achieve this place,^[16] win the titles ofAsian Quadrangular Football Tournament for the years of—(1952-Colombo and1954-Calcutta and came runners-up inPestabola Merdeka—(1959 Kuala Lumpur).^{[17][18][19][20][21]}

Rahim was born on 17 August 1909 inHyderabad,Hyderabad State,British India.^[22][23] In his early years, he worked as a school teacher.^[24] After taking football seriously, Rahim represented the football team ofOsmania University, from where he graduated.^[25][26] He also played for a team named "Eleven Hunters", consisting of then enrolled and former students of the college.^[27]

After his journey as a teacher, Rahim returned to his college to complete his arts degree. Thereafter, he worked as the teacher successively in Kachiguda Middle School, Urdu Sharif School, Darul-ul-Uloom High School and Chaderghat High School.^[27] He then got a diploma in physical education and took charge of sports in the last two schools he served as teacher.^[27]

Rahim was a professional footballer for a while, representing Qamar Club, which was then considered to be one of the best teams in the local league.^[28] Rahim also played for theDutch Amateur League clubHSV Hoek in the Netherlands,^[29] before going on to become a manager.^[30]

When playing domestic football, Rahim along with Indian sports pioneerSyed Mohammad Hadi, became associated with activities related to football organization in Hyderabad State.^[13] He was one of the founding members ofHyderabad Football Association (HFA), incorporated in 1939.^[13][31] In 1943, Rahim was elected secretary of HFA, whileGhulam Muhammad was elected as the first President in 1942.^[32] During the tenure of thenAIFF vice-president Shiv Kumar Lal, both Andhra (incepted later) and Hyderabad Football Associations were merged to form Andhra Pradesh Football Association (APFA).^[33][34][13] Soon after the merger, Rahim was elected secretary of APFA, and became involved in developing infrastructure of the game in both Hyderabad and Secunderabad.^[13] Rahim played an influential role behind a compact development of football in Hyderabad in the 1950s, when five organized clubs were competing, fifteen thousand footballers were registered, and nearly forty qualified referees came up in the state.^[13] A lover of Hyderabadi one-touch football, he later scouted young players such asTulsidas Balaram, from Secundrabad League while visiting local matches as chief guest.^[35]

In 1950, Rahim joinedHyderabad City Police Club as coach.^[36] He succeededNorbert Andrew Fruvall for the post.^[37] He managed the team from 1950 until his death in 1963.^[13][38] The Hyderabadi club won five consecutiveRovers Cups during his tenure from 1950 to 1955.^[39][40] He also took his team to fiveDurand Cup finals, winning three of them.^[24] One of the finest players of that team,Muhammad Noor, recalled the training session years under Rahim as: "Often at practice we had just one football and for refreshments afterwards just a cup of tea but our hard practice, a will to succeed and excellent coaching from the late Rahim Saheb enabled us to become a successful team".^[24]

Rahim managedHyderabad football team inSantosh Trophy, known as the senior national championships. He guided the team clinching two consecutive titles in 1956–57 and 1957–58, defeating the same team,Bombay, in finals.^[41][42] At the1958–59 edition, Hyderabad were on the verge of a hat-trick of Santosh Trophy titles inMadras, but went down 5–2 toServices in semi-finals.^[43] Most of the members of his Hyderabad City Police team, represented Hyderabad in the tournament.^[43]

He became manager of theIndia national football team in 1950,^[32] the same year, India had not gone to the1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.^{[44][45][46][47]} Rahim's first assignment as the coach of India was to train the team that touredCeylon in 1949.^[27] Rahim made the Indian team prominent during the "golden era" ofIndian football,^[48] became one of the best teams inAsia.^[49][50] In March 1951, at the inaugural1951 Asian Games inNew Delhi, Rahim helped India in winning the gold medal. They defeatedIran 1–0 in the gold medal match to gain their first trophy,^[51][52] asSheoo Mewalal finished the tournament as top scorer.^[53][54] In 1954, noted British managerBert Flatley became Rahim's assistant at the1954 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament.^[55][56]

During Rahim's tenure, the Indian football team enjoyed a great deal of success.^[50] Apart from winning the Asian games in1951 and1962,^[57] India also reached the semi-finals of the1956 Melbourne Olympics which is still considered India's greatest ever achievement in football.^[58][59] Under his coaching at that tournament, players likeNeville D'Souza,^[60][61]Samar Banerjee,^[62]P. K. Banerjee,^[63][64][65]J. Krishnaswamy^[66] achieved fame worldwide.^[67] At the1960 Summer Olympics inRome, India lost to Hungary 2–1 in their first game, with Balaram scoring the consolation goal in the 79th minute. India almost upset1958 FIFA World Cup semi-finalists France few days later, in which Balaram's goal gave the lead to India but a mistake from Ram Bahadur Thapa denied India a famous victory.^[24]

Rahim's last success was at the1962 Asian games inJakarta, where India won gold, beatingSouth Korea in the finals in front of a crowd of 100,000.^[68] He is also credited for bringing up and nurturing Indian talents during his tenure, includingPeter Thangaraj,^[69] Nikhil Nandy, Kesto Pal,Chuni Goswami,^[70][71]Jarnail Singh,^[72][73]Tulsidas Balaram,^[74]Sheikh Abdul Latif,^[75]Mariappa Kempaiah,^[76]Dharmalingam Kannan,^[77]Hussain Ahmed,^[78][79]Mohammed Rahmatullah,^[80][81] Yousuf Khan,^[82] Arun Ghosh,^[83] Nikhil Nandy,^[84] andAmal Dutta.^[85] Rahim was succeeded by English coachHarry Wright in 1964, who led the side to the runners-up spot in the1964 Asian Cup.^[86]

Rahim is considered to be the greatest football coach India has ever produced.^[24][87] His tenure is considered as a "Golden age" of Indian football.^[88] Rahim was a teacher in his early career and coachedHyderabad City Police FC,^[89] which made him a strict disciplinarian and a good tactician. Utilizing the available resources, he made the best out of them by conductingnon-dribbling and weaker leg (the players supposedly play with their weaker foot) tournaments to improveone-touch play.^[90]

Rahim introduced theclassic4–2–4 formation in Indian football team much beforeBrazil popularised it in the1958 World Cup.^[91]

The1962 Asian Games was Rahim's final major tournament, winning a 2–1 victory overSouth Korea.^[24] Before that final, he famously said to his players, "Kal aap logon se mujhe ek tohfa chahiye...kal aap sona jitlo" (lit. 'I want a gift from you tomorrow...the gold medal').[24]

When Indian national coach Alberto Fernando had gone to a workshop inBrazil in 1964, he said:

What I learnt from Rahim in 1956 is being taught now in Brazil. Verily, he was a football prophet.^[92]

Former Indian internationalMohammed Zulfiqaruddin said about Rahim, as:

He was a master at work. He made the Indian football team a formidable unit. He had the uncanny ability of spotting talent and turning them into solid players. But he was a strict disciplinarian.^[24]

Rahim was popularly known as 'Maulvi Sahib' due to his gentleman gesture and tireless works and dedications in developing football at that time.^[13] He went to the Nizam College, and later, was part of its football section.^[13]

Rahim was married to Saira Rahim. Their sonSyed Shahid Hakim was a former professional football player,^[93] who represented India at the1960 Summer Olympics.^[94][95] Hakim also worked as aFIFA official, a squadron leader in theIndian Air Force,^[96] and a referee.^[97] He later managed the national team like his father, and was a recipient of theDhyan Chand Award.^[98][99]

Rahim died oflung cancer on 12 June 1963 after being bed-ridden for six months.^[100][27]

A former Indian football playerFortunato Franco said about "Rahim Saab";

With him he took Indian Football to the grave.^[101]

In memory of Rahim, theI-League "Best Coach Award" is renamed as "Syed Abdul Rahim Award", given to the best coach in each season by theAll India Football Federation (AIFF).^{[102][103][104][105][106][107]}

A biopic on Rahim namedMaidaan, directed byAmit Sharma, withAjay Devgn as Rahim in lead role,^[108][109] was released theatrically onEid al-Fitr 2024.^[110][111]

Hyderabad City Police^[112]

• Durand Cup: 1950–51, 1954, 1957–58, 1961; runner-up: 1952, 1956–57
• Rovers Cup: 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1962
• DCM Trophy: 1959

India^{[113][114][115]}

• Asian Games Gold Medal:1951,1962
• Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament:1952,1954^[116]
• Merdeka Cup runners-up:1959^[117]

Hyderabad State^[43]

• Santosh Trophy: 1956–57, 1957–58

• List of Indian football players in foreign leagues
• List of India national football team managers
• History of the India national football team
• History of Indian football

Cited sources

Bibliography

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• Syed Abdul Rahim atOlympedia
• Legends of Indian Football: Rahim Saab
• 106th birth anniversary, a look back at the genius that was Syed Abdul Rahim. (archived; Indian Football Team)

• 1909 births
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• Footballers from Hyderabad, India
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• Deaths from lung cancer in India

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