Rajib Ghosh (born 12 July 1989) is an Indian former

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 last played as a defender for

Calcutta Premier Division The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based association football, football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by the Indian Football Association, Indian Football Association (WB) as part of the Indian State Leagu ...

side

Bhawanipore Bhowanipore (also Bhowanipur; ) is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History In 1717, the East India Company obtained the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement from ...

. He also represented West Bengal in Santosh Trophy, winning the 2009–10 season.

Club career

Early career

Born in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, Ghosh started playing football very early, when he was 6–7 years old. He played Nursery League for the Avenue Lake Gardens team, where they finished runners-up. He played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

in that tournament. After that stint, he joined Ballygunge AC, a 5th Division team in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

where he played as a stopper. He then switched over to Milan Samity next season, where he played for two years. There also he played in

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He then moved to Kidderpore, where he spent two seasons. He played both as

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

as well as

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

in that team. In his second season in Khidirpur (2005–06), they reached the Super Division (now Premier Division). Ghosh first played in the CFL Premier Division during 2006–07 season, when he joined Calcutta Port Trust. The team was managed by

Alok Mukherjee Alok Mukherjee (born circa 1945) is a Canadian academic, human rights advocate, and public servant. He served as chair of the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) from 2005 until his July 2015 retirement. He is currently appointed "distinguished ...

, who used him as

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He got an offer to play for Mohammedan Sporting After that season, he got offer from

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, ...

and

Salgaocar Salgaocar Football Club (formerly Salgaocar Sporting Club) is an Indian professional football club based in Vasco, Goa. Being one of the country's most successful clubs, it is currently operating youth teams. Until the disfunction of its seni ...

, but he had to stay in Mohammedan since he had two more years on his contract with them. After that, he spent a year with

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

Dhaka Mohammedan

In 2009, Ghosh moved to Bangladesh and joined

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side Mohammedan Sporting Dhaka. He played there until 2010, before signing with Mohun Bagan.

Pailan Arrows

After his stint in

Mohammedan ''Mohammedan'' (also spelled ''Muhammadan'', ''Mahommedan'', ''Mahomedan'' or ''Mahometan'') is a term for a follower of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet. It is used as both a noun and an adjective, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muhamm ...

, Ghosh joined

Pailan Arrows Indian Arrows (formerly known as Pailan Arrows) is an Indian developmental football team that competes in the Indian national football tiers. They competed in the I-League. The club was formed by the All India Football Federation in 2010, wi ...

in 2011. They played under the coaching of

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhwinder Singh (born 18 July 1971) is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings Bollywood songs. He sang " Jai Ho" in the film '' Slumdog Millionaire'', for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Televisi ...

. Pailan participated in the

2011 Indian Federation Cup The 2011 Indian Federation Cup was the 33rd season of the knock-out competition. On 13 August 2011 the AIFF announced that 21 clubs had been accepted to the tournament. The tournament Qualifiers commence from 8 September to 13 September and Fi ...

and finished second in group stages behind Salgaocar. They then began their 2011–12 I-League campaign against

at the

Salt Lake Stadium The Salt Lake Stadium, officially known as Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), is a multi-purpose stadium, used mostly for football matches, located in Salt Lake City, Greater Kolkata, with a capacity of 68,000 spectators. Named after S ...

on 23 October 2012 in which they lost 1–3. Towards the end of the season, Pailan managed to win two matches, one against

Chirag United Club Kerala Viva Kerala Football Club (also known as Chirag United Club Kerala) was an Indian professional association football, football club based in the city of Kochi, Kerala. The club was originally formed in 2004 as ''Viva Kerala''. They participated ...

and another against

HAL HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bengaluru, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fight ...

to finished the season in 13th place out of 14 teams and were not relegated being a developmental team.

Mohun Bagan

Ghosh signed for

Mohun Bagan AC Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional multi-sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest multi-sports clubs in Asia. The club has various sports departments like association football, footb ...

of the I-League on 14 May 2012. He played only 2 matches.

Bhawanipore

In 2013, he moved to

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 ...

side

. In the

I-League 2nd Division The I-League 2 is an Indian men's professional association football, football league. It is the 3rd tier of the Indian football league system, behind the Indian Super League and the I-League. It operates as a system of promotion and relegation ...

, the club achieved runners-up finish in 2014–15, with 17 points in 8 matches. They later achieved third place in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

West Bengal

Ghosh also appeared with the

team in the 46th edition ( 2009–10 season) of

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 ...

. In the final on 8 August 2010, they clinched the title edging past Punjab 2–1 at the

Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan The Salt Lake Stadium, officially known as Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), is a multi-purpose stadium, used mostly for football matches, located in Salt Lake City, Greater Kolkata, with a capacity of 68,000 spectators. Named after S ...

International career

While Rajib was in Mohammedan Sporting, Colin Toal called him to the India U19 national camp in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

. He was also part of the team that participated in 2008 AFC Youth Championship qualification, where he appeared in five matches.

Career statistics

Club

''Statistics accurate as of 1 June 2013''

Honours

Mohun Bagan * Federation Cup runner-up:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

West Bengal *

: 2009–10

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghosh, Rajib Indian men's footballers 1989 births Living people Footballers from West Bengal I-League players Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) players East Bengal Club players Indian Arrows players Mohun Bagan Super Giant players Indian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bangladesh Men's association football defenders Mohammedan SC (Dhaka) players Indian expatriate sportspeople in Bangladesh 21st-century Indian sportsmen