Syed Abdul Rahim

Syed Abdul Rahim (17 August 1909 – 11 June 1963), popularly known as Rahim Saab, was an Indian football coach and manager of the India national team from 1950 until his death in 1963, and a former player.

He is regarded as the architect of modern Indian football.

Basically a teacher by profession, he was a strong motivator and his tenure as a coach is regarded as a "golden age" of football in India.

Under his stewardship, the India national team earned superiority in both technical qualities and tactical innovations, and got the nickname "Brazil of Asia".

Rahim was born on 17 August 1909 in Hyderabad, British India.

In his early years, he worked as a school teacher.

After taking football seriously, Rahim represented the football team of Osmania University, from where he did his graduation.

He also played for a team named "Eleven Hunters", consisting of then enrolled and former students of the college.

After his journey as a teacher, Rahim returned to the 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.

He then took a diploma in physical education and took charge of sports activities in the last two schools he served as teacher.

Rahim was a professional footballer for a while, as he had represented Qamar Club, which was then considered to be one of the best teams in the local league.

Rahim also played for the Dutch Amateur League club HSV Hoek in the Netherlands, before going on to become a manager.

When playing domestic football, Rahim along with legendary Indian sports pioneer Syed Mohammad Hadi, became associated with activities related to football organization in Hyderabad State.

He was one of the founding members of Hyderabad Football Association (HFA), incorporated in 1939.

In 1943, Rahim was elected secretary of HFA, while Ghulam Muhammad was elected as the first President in 1942.

During the tenure of then AIFF vice-president Shiv Kumar Lal, both Andhra (incepted later) and Hyderabad Football Associations were merged to form Andhra Pradesh Football Association (APFA).

Soon after the merger, Rahim was elected secretary of APFA, and became involved in developing infrastructure of the game in both Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

Rahim's first assignment as the coach of India was to train the team that toured Ceylon in 1949.

Rahim made the Indian team prominent during the "golden era" of Indian football, became one of the best teams in Asia.

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.

A lover of Hyderabadi one-touch football, he later scouted young players such as Tulsidas Balaram, from Secundrabad League while visiting local matches as chief guest.

In 1950, Rahim joined Hyderabad City Police Club as coach.

He succeeded Norbert Andrew Fruvall for the post.

He managed the team from 1950 until his death in 1963.

The Hyderabadi club won five consecutive Rovers Cups during his tenure from 1950 to 1955.

He also taken his team to five Durand Cup finals, winning three of them.

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".

Rahim managed Hyderabad football team in Santosh Trophy, known as the senior national championships.

He became manager of the India national football team in 1950, the same year, India had not gone to the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

They went on to win Gold medals in Asian Games of—(1951-Delhi and 1962-Jakarta), play semi-finals of the Summer Olympics—(1956-Melbourne) making India the first ever Asian country to achieve this place, win the titles of Colombo Cup for the years of—(1952-Colombo and 1954-Calcutta and came runners-up in Pestabola Merdeka—(1959 Kuala Lumpur).

In March 1951, at the inaugural 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi, Rahim helped India in winning the gold medal.

They defeated Iran 1–0 in the gold medal match to gain their first trophy, as Sheoo Mewalal finished the tournament as top scorer.

Apart from winning the Asian games in 1951 and 1962, India also reached the semi-finals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics which is still considered India's greatest ever achievement in football.

Under his coaching at that tournament, players like Neville D'Souza, Samar Banerjee, P. K. Banerjee, J. Krishnaswamy achieved fame worldwide.

In 1954, noted British manager Bert Flatley became Rahim's assistant at the 1954 Colombo Cup.

During Rahim's tenure, the Indian football team enjoyed a great deal of success.

He guided the team clinching two consecutive titles in 1956–57 and 1957–58, defeating the same team, Bombay, in finals.

At the 1958–59 edition, Hyderabad were on the verge of a hat-trick of Santosh Trophy titles in Madras, but went down 5–2 to Services in quarter-finals.

Most of the members of his Hyderabad City Police team, represented Hyderabad in the tournament.