Indian football legend Mohammad Habib passed away.

The legend breathed his last in Hyderabad at 5 pm on Tuesday, our Independence Day. He was 74 years at the time of his death. It was indeed a dark day for East Bengal.

The club’s former successful football secretary Suprakash Gargari passed away in the morning. In the afternoon the news came that Mohammad Habib is no more. In 1966, Habib was brought to Kolkata by football legend Jesse Guh. His deebut in Kolkata Maidan was in East Bengal jersey. Although he later played for Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting, East Bengal was his life.

Habib won the Arjuna Award in 1980. In 2015, he won the Bharat Gaurav honor given by East Bengal. He played as a forward. There was equal skill in the midfield. He scored a lot of goals. The number of goals scored is innumerable.

Habib was India’s first professional footballer. After the Mohun Bagan-Cosmos match in 1977, when all the Mohun Bagan footballers went to take a picture with Pele, only one did not go. He was Mohammad Habib. That day he said, ‘Woh Pele hai, hum bhi habib hai…..’.

This stubbornness, this confidence was natural to his game. He was fondly known as Bare Miyan. Bare Miyan’s passing is truly a loss for Indian football.