Background
Pradip Kumar Banerjee was born on 15 October 1936, in Jalpaiguri in West Bengal.
Pradip Kumar Banerjee was born on 15 October 1936, in Jalpaiguri in West Bengal.
He studied in Jalpaiguri Zilla School and completed his schooling from k.M.P.M. School in Jamshedpur.
He made 84 appearances for India, scoring 65 goals during the course of his career. He was one of the first recipients of Arjuna Award, when the awards were instituted in 1961. He was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri in 1990 and was named Indian Football player of the 20th century by Fédération internationale de football association. At the age of 15, Banerjee represented Bihar in Santosh Trophy, playing in the right wing.
In 1954 he moved on to Kolkata and joined Mohun Bagan.
Later he moved on to represent Eastern Railway. He made his debut for the national team in the 1955 Quadrangular tournament in Dhaka, East Pakistan (now capital of Bangladesh) at the age of 19.
He represented India in three Asian Games namely, the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, where India clinched the gold medal in football and then the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok. He was part of the national team that played at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.
He captained India at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where he scored an equalizer against France in a 1-1 draw.
Recurring injuries forced him to drop out of the national team and subsequently to his retirement in 1967. Managerial P.K. Bannerjee"s first stint at coaching came with the East Bengal Football Club. He became the national coach in 1972, starting with the qualifying matches of the 1972 Munich Olympics.
He went on to coach the Indian Football Team till 1986.
He joined the Tata Football Academy at Jamshedpur and served as its Technical Director from 1991 to 1997. PK was awarded the player of the Millennium in 2005 by Fédération internationale de football association. In 1999, Banerjee again took up the post of the Technical director of the Indian Football team
India Individual.
Asian Games Gold Medal: 1962 Asian Games Merdeka Tournament silver medal: 1959, 1964. Arjuna Award: 1961 Padma Shri: 1990 Indian Football player of 20th Century (Awarded by Fédération internationale de football association) Fédération internationale de football association Centennial Order of Merit Banerjee is the only football player from Asia who has been awarded the FAIR PLAY Award.
