Subimal "Chuni" Goswami (15 January 1938 – 30 April 2020) was an Indian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er. As footballer, he played as a striker or winger, captained both the

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

club and the Indian national team. He also served as the Sheriff of Kolkata. Goswami scored nine goals in 30 international appearances. He was an Olympian, represented India national team at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

. He also led the team to achieve the gold medal at the

1962 Asian Games The 1962 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 1962) also known as the 4th Asian Games, IV Asiad, and Jakarta 1962, was the fourth edition of pan-Asian multi-sport event sanctioned by the Asian Games Federation (AGF). The games were held from 24 Au ...

, and earn the runners-up position at the

1964 AFC Asian Cup The 1964 AFC Asian Cup was the 3rd edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Israel from 26 May to 3 June 1964. The tournamen ...

. Playing for the India national team under coaching of legendary Syed Abdul Rahim, Goswami was also a first class cricketer, playing

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

for Bengal. He captained his team to the final of the tournament in 1971–72. On 15 January 2020,

India Post India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings ...

issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honour. Goswami's autobiography ''Khelte Khelte'' was published in 1982.

Personal life

Born in

Kishoreganj Kishoreganj is a city and the headquarters of Kishoreganj District in the division of Dhaka, Bangladesh. See also * ABM Zahidul Haq * Pakundia Adarsha Mohila College Pakundia Adarsha Mohila College ( bn, পাকুন্দিয়� ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

, Goswami moved to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

and settled there in his childhood. His elder brother Manik Goswami was also a footballer who played for

George Telegraph George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

. Goswami was married to Basanti and gave birth their son, named Sudipto.

Football career

Chuni Goswami holds the distinction of playing for a single club,

, throughout his club career despite numerous offers from other clubs including one reported offer from

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

Club career

Goswami joined the

junior team in 1946 at the age of 8 years. He was a part of the junior squad up to 1954 and then graduated to the Mohun Bagan senior team. Mentored by club legend Balaidas Chatterjee, Goswami went on to represent Mohun Bagan in various foreign tours. He made his club debut on 29 May in the same year in Mohun Bagan's 3–0 win against Eastern Railway, in which he scored a goal. In the 1959 CFL season, Goswami scored 14 goals for his team. He continued playing for Mohun Bagan until his retirement in 1968. In the 1960s, Goswami and Jarnail Singh became two highest-paid players of the club; both of them captained the team respectively. Goswami captained Mohun Bagan in five seasons from 1960 to 1964. During his stay at the club, he won the

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is off ...

six times,

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. The IFA is the governing body of football in the state of West Bengal, came into existence in 1893. Named after the association, the IFA Shield t ...

and

Durand Cup The Durand Football Tournament, commonly known as Durand Cup, is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Shimla. Hosted by the Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS) and All India Football Federation ...

four times.

International career

Chuni Goswami made his international debut for India in 1956 during the team's 1–0 victory over the Chinese Olympic team. He went on to play for India in 50 international matches including in Olympics, Asian Games, Asia Cup and Merdeka Cup. He captained India to the Asian Games Gold Medal in 1962 and a Silver in the

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

and in the Merdeka Cup. Goswami, known for having incredible partnership with P. K. Banerjee and Tulsidas Balaram, is one of the "Indian football's holy trinity".

Career statistics

International statistics

Chuni Goswami played in 30 FIFA "A" international matches having scored 9 times for the National team.

International goals

Honours

Mohun Bagan *

: 1959, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965 *

: 1960, 1961, 1962, 1967 *

Rovers Cup The Rovers Cup was an annual association football, football tournament held in India, organized by the Western India Football Association. It was the List of oldest football competitions, second oldest tournament in India after Durand Cup. Histor ...

: 1966 *

: 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 India *

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until th ...

Gold medal:

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wo ...

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

runners-up:

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

Merdeka Tournament Merdeka Tournament or Pestabola Merdeka is a friendly football tournament held in Malaysia to commemorate the Independence Day. The competition bears the Malay word for independence. As of 2022, it has been held 40 times, and decreasingly in r ...

runner-up: 1964 Bengal *

Santosh Trophy The Santosh Trophy, officially known as Hero Senior Men's National Football Championship due to sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp, is a state football leagues in India, state-level association football, football competition contested by the L ...

: 1955–56, 1958–59 Individual * Mohun Bagan Ratna Award: 2001 Records *Top goal scorer of

(with 145 goals)

Cricket career

Chuni Goswami made his first class debut for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy during the 1962–63 season. He was a Right Handed Batsman and a Right Arm Medium Pacer. After retiring from football, Goswami fully focussed on playing

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

for West Bengal. He appeared in two Ranji Trophy finals, losing to Mumbai each time. In the 1968–69 final, he scored 96 and 84; but Ajit Wadekar's century helped Mumbai win on first innings lead. Later, he led the

Bengal cricket team The Bengal cricket team represents the Indian state of West Bengal in domestic first-class cricket. It is considered Eastern India's strongest cricket team. The team plays its home matches at the historic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Bengal has wo ...

to a 1972 Ranji Trophy final which they lost to Mumbai for whom Gavaskar and Shivalkar starred. Playing for Combined East and Central Zone team against the touring West Indies side in December 1966, Chuni Goswami took 8 wickets in the match as his team surprisingly beat the tourists by an innings. In his cricket career, which spanned up to the 1972–73 season, he played 46 first class matches, scoring 1,592 runs with one century and seven fifties, and took 47 wickets.Players and Officials - Chuni Goswami
, from

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

Managerial career

Goswami later became team official of Mohun Bagan and went with Karuna Bhattacharya managed team to newly independent

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

in May 1972, where they defeated Dhaka Mohammedan in first match, but lost to Shadhin Bangla football team in their last match. He later became director of

Tata Football Academy Tata Football Academy (Tata FA or TFA) is an association football academy situated in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India, sponsored by Tata Steel, which owns ISL outfit Jamshedpur FC. It is one of the renowned football academies in India. History ...

in 1986, and also managed

India national football team The India national football team represents India in international football and is governed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). The team is affiliated to FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Indian team, which was once ...

in 1991–92.

Death

Goswami died on 30 April 2020 at the age of 82 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

after a prolonged illness. For the last few months, Goswami was suffering from underlying ailments with diabetes, prostate infection and neurological problems. His family confirmed that Goswami was admitted to a city hospital earlier in the day and died at 5 pm after a cardiac arrest.

Awards

Goswami won numerous awards during his playing career as well as after retirement for his contribution towards Indian football. The prominent awards won by him are: * 1958 – Best Footballer Award by Kolkata Veterans Sports Club * 1962 – Best Striker of Asia Award * 1963 –

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, on ...

* 1983 –

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

award * 2005 – Mohan Bagan Ratna

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

*
Details at RSSSF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goswami, Chuni 1938 births 2020 deaths Indian footballers India international footballers Footballers from Kolkata Cricketers from Kolkata Indian cricketers People from Kishoreganj District Bengal cricketers Recipients of the Arjuna Award Sheriffs of Kolkata Olympic footballers of India Footballers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics 1964 AFC Asian Cup players Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Asutosh College alumni University of Calcutta alumni Mohun Bagan AC players East Zone cricketers State Bank of India cricketers Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1958 Asian Games Footballers at the 1962 Asian Games Association football forwards Asian Games gold medalists for India Medalists at the 1962 Asian Games Calcutta Football League players