Prasun Banerjee is an Indian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er and politician who is serving as an MP in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

from

Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...

. He is an

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given 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 Arjun ...

winner (1979). Younger brother of the

Pradip Kumar Banerjee Pradip Kumar Banerjee (23 June 1936 – 20 March 2020) was an Indian professional footballer who played as a striker for the India national football team. He also captained the national team and later on became the coach of the national ...

, Prasun had also captained the

India national football team The India national football team represents India in men's international Association football, football and is governed by the All India Football Federation, the governing body for Football in India, football in India. It is a member of FIFA, ...

in international tournaments.

Playing career

He was vice-captain of the India U-20 team that clinched

1974 AFC Youth Championship The 1974 AFC Youth Championship was held in Bangkok, Thailand. India and Iran shared the title after the final ended in a 2–2 Draw. This was also the last tournament South Vietnam participated, one year later in 30 April 1975 South Vietnam was ...

title in Thailand. Banerjee began his club football career with

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by the Indian Football Association (WB) as part of the state leagues. It is the oldest football league in Asia. The CFL ...

club

Kidderpore Khidirpur or Kidderpore is a neighbourhood of Kolkata, South Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. Etymology Most plausibly, the name is a corruption of ''Khidrpur'' or ''Khizarpur' ...

. He also played for

Aryans ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''),Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood i ...

. He was included in the All Time Best-XI team of

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Super Giant, commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, ...

as a central defensive midfielder. He was only the second Indian to play for Asian All-star XI. He also played two matches against Brazil for Asian All-star XI and played against Zico, Eder, Falcao, Socretes and others. He was included in the Limca book of record for representing India in 100 football matches. In 2013, he won the bypoll to the Howrah Sadar parliamentary constituency on a

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the Federated state, state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a Lis ...

ticket thus becoming the first professional footballer to be a Member of Parliament, India (

). He won the seat defeating his adversary, Left Front's Sridip Bhattacharya, by more than 27,000 votes. He was re-elected to the

16th Lok Sabha Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 May ...

in 2014.

Early life

Prasun is the younger brother of India's player of the 20th century and former national coach,

. He is a graduate of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

Controversy

In 2015, Banerjee was charged for slapping a Kolkata traffic constable. The constable, identified as Taragati Biswas, had reportedly stopped Banerjee's vehicle while it violated the 'no U-turn' rule.

Career statistics

India national team

Debut: 26 July 1974 vs Malaysia, in Merdeka Cup at Kuala Lumpur (Prasun Banerjee came in as a substitute for Gautam Sarkar).
No of Matches Played – 49
No of Matches played as a captain – 5
Goals Scored – 3

International tournaments

Asian Games – 1974, 1978, 1982.
Merdeka Cup (Kuala Lumpur) – 1974, 1981, 1982.
Pre Olympics – 1980 (Captain).
Nehru Cup – 1982.
Kings Cup (Bangkok) – 1977, 1981.
Presidents Cup (Seoul) – 1982.
Aga Khan Gold Cup (Dhaka) – 1977.

Other Achievements

Prasun Banerjee was the Joint Captain of the Indian Youth Team along with Sabbir Ali which became Joint Champions with Iran in Asian Youth Soccer Tournament at Bangkok.

Bengal

Santosh Trophy – 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 (Captain), 1982.
Goals Scored – 3
Championships Won – 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 (Captain) and 1982 (Joint) – 6 times

Clubs

* Mohun Bagan – 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 (Captain), 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983. Goals Scored – 24 goals (CFL – 14, Bordoloi Trophy – 4, IFA Shield – 1, Durand Cup – 1, Rovers Cup – 1, Federation Cup −2, Darjeeling Gold Cup – 1).
Trophies Won - Calcutta Football League (4) – 1976, 1978, 1979, 1983.
IFA Shield (5) – 1976 (Joint), 1977, 1978 (Joint), 1979, 1982.
Durand Cup (5) – 1974, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982 (Joint).
Rovers Cup (2) – 1976, 1977.
Federation Cup (3) – 1978 (Joint), 1980 (Joint), 1982.
Bordoloi Trophy (4) – 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977.
Darjeeling Gold Cup (4) – 1975, 1976 (Joint), 1979, 1982.
Nagjee Trophy (1) – 1978. Total – 28. * Mohammedan Sporting – 1981, 1984, 1985 Goals Scored – 4 (CFL – 1, Federation Cup – 2, Sanjay Gandhi Gold Cup – 1).
Trophies Won - Calcutta Football League – 1981.
Federation Cup – 1984.
Sanjay Gandhi Gold Cup – 1981.
Stafford Cup – 1981 (Joint).
Nizam Gold Cup – 1984.
Nagjee Trophy – 1984.
Rovers Cup – 1984.
Darjeeling Gold Cup – 1984.
Bordoloi Trophy – 1985 Total – 9

Coaching

Prasun Banerjee has also coached Mohun Bagan for two months in the 1990–91 season.

Honours

India *

King's Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

third place:

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

India U20 * AFC Asian U-19 Championship:

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

Individual *

: 1979 *Shaan-e-Mohammedan: 2016