Debendra Prasad "Deba" Singh (1943 – 18 November 2024) was an Indian

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 lea ...

who played as a defender for

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

and the India national team.

Personal life

He is the father of former Indian international footballer

Rajendra Prasad Singh Rajendra Prasad "R. P." Singh (born 11 July 1974) is an Indian former footballer who played as a midfielder. He has represented the club Mohun Bagan and the India national team. Early life Singh was born in Cuttack, Odisha and is the son of f ...

. Singh received the first OSJA (Odisha Sports Journalists’ Association) awards in 2018. Singh died on 18 November 2024, at the age of 82.

Club career

He played for Orissa Police in the Cuttack Senior League domestically. Singh was part of the

team which was coached by

Amal Dutta Amal Dutta (4 May 1930 – 10 July 2016) was a former Indian footballer, coach and football manager. Born in Calcutta, then Bengal Presidency, he is considered as the first professional football coach in the country. A finest thinker of the sp ...

and captained the squad that reached the semi-finals in the 1967–68 edition of the

Santosh Trophy The National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, or simply Santosh Trophy, is an inter-state national football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF), th ...

by defeating

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

International career

Singh made his senior national team debut in his only appearance against

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

in an international friendly.

References

1943 births 2024 deaths Sportspeople from Cuttack Footballers from Odisha Indian men's footballers India men's international footballers Men's association football defenders {{India-footy-defender-stub