Tarif Saikh Ahmed (born 2 May 1982) is a former 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. He spent most of his career with

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

based club

ONGC The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is an Indian central public sector undertaking which is the largest government-owned oil and gas explorer and producer in the country. It accounts for around 70 percent of India's domestic pro ...

. He had also played for

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, ...

, Mohammedan S.C.,

Tollygunge Agragami Tollygunge Agragami Football Club is an Indian professional multi-sports club known for its Association football, football section. It is based in Tollygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1943 as "Russa Agragami Samity", the club competes i ...

, and

Mahindra United Mahindra United Football Club (formerly known as Mahindra & Mahindra) was an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 1962, the club competed in the I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system, bef ...

. Ahmed also played internationally for

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

from 2006 to 2007.

Club career

Born 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 ...

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 ...

, Ahmed began his career with

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

side

after coming through their youth side. After just one season however, Ahmed left Mohun Bagan to join local rivals

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 ...

. He spent one season with Mohammedan before moving once again to

. He scored his first goal in the National Football League with Tollygunge on 10 April 2005. His 83rd minute goal against

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers Futebol Clube de Goa (simply known as Churchill Brothers) is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League, alongside the Goa Professional League (reserves). Founded in 1 ...

however was not enough as his side would lose 2–4. Tollygunge Agragami were then relegated after the 2004–05 season and Ahmed returned to Mohammedan who were promoted to the NFL themselves. In 2007, Ahmed joined

and joined

on loan in the newly formed

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

. During the 2007–08 season, Ahmed scored just once, against Sporting Goa on 14 December 2007. While with ONGC, Ahmed also represented

in 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 ...

. In 2009, Ahmed helped ONGC earn promotion to the

by finishing as champions 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 ...

. Ahmed also finished the season as the 2nd Division second best scorer. In 2012, Ahmed began to captain West Bengal in the Santosh Trophy. In 2015, Ahmed moved back to West Bengal to play for

Southern Samity Southern Samity is an Indian professional multi-sports club from Kolkata. Founded in 1945, the club is also based in Siliguri, North Bengal. Apart from sports, they are also involved in numerous cultural activities. Its football section compete ...

in the

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 ...

. By 2017, Ahmed was back playing with ONGC in the local leagues.

International career

Ahmed has three international caps representing

. He made his senior debut on 15 November 2006 in a

2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its h ...

qualifier against

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. He came on as a substitute for Manjit Singh as India were defeated 1–2.

Coaching career

In May 2019, Ahmed participated in the

AIFF AIFF may refer to: * Audio Interchange File Format * All India Football Federation, the national governing body of Association football in India Film festivals * Addis International Film Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia * Alexandria Internation ...

"D" Coaching License course in

Personal life

Ahmed is the older brother of Indian international midfielder Jewel Raja.

Career statistics

International

Honours

índia *

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to 2006. After ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

ONGC *

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Tarif 1982 births Living people Indian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Mohun Bagan Super Giant players Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) players Tollygunge Agragami FC players ONGC FC players Mahindra United FC players Southern Samity players National Football League (India) players I-League players I-League 2 players 21st-century Indian sportsmen Footballers from Kolkata India men's international footballers India men's youth international footballers