Prasun Banerjee

For the Hindustani classical vocalist, see Prasun Banerjee (singer).

Prasun Banerjee is an Indian former professional footballer and politician who is serving as an MP in the Lok Sabha from Howrah. He is an Arjuna Award winner (1979). Younger brother of the Pradip Kumar Banerjee, Prasun had also captained the India national football team in international tournaments.^[1]

Prasun Banerjee
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office June 2013
Preceded by	Ambica Banerjee
Constituency	Howrah
Personal details
Political party	Trinamool Congress
Alma mater	University of Calcutta -(BSc)
Profession	Sportsperson, Politician
Association football career Date of birth (1955-04-06) 6 April 1955 (age 69) Place of birth Kolkata, West Bengal, India Position(s) CM, CDM, Left-half back International career Years Team Apps (Gls) 1974–1985 India 49 (3)

Playing career

He was vice-captain of the India U-20 team that clinched 1974 AFC Youth Championship title in Thailand.^[2][3]

Banerjee began his club football career with Calcutta Football League club Kidderpore.^[4] He also played for Aryans.^[5] He was included in the All Time Best-XI team of Mohun Bagan as a central defensive midfielder.^[6] 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.^[7]

In 2013, he won the bypoll to the Howrah Sadar parliamentary constituency on a Trinamool Congress ticket thus becoming the first professional footballer to be a Member of Parliament, India (Lok Sabha). He won the seat defeating his adversary, Left Front's Sridip Bhattacharya, by more than 27,000 votes.^[8][9] He was re-elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014.^[10]

Early life

Prasun is the younger brother of India's player of the 20th century and former national coach, P. K. Banerjee. He is a graduate of the University of Calcutta.^[11]

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.^[12]

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.^[13]

Honours

India

• King's Cup third place: 1977^[14]

India U20

• AFC Asian U-19 Championship: 1974^[15][16]

Individual

• Arjuna Award: 1979^[17][18][19]
• Shaan-e-Mohammedan: 2016^[20]

References

1. "Former India football captain Prasun Banerjee hospitalised". NDTV. Press Trust of India. 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
2. Banerjee, Ritabrata (30 April 2020). "Down the memory lane: India's AFC Youth Championship triumph in 1974". www.goal.com. Goal. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
3. Ali, Shabbir (30 April 2020). "From gate-crashers to joint winners: India's journey at the Asian Youth Championship Bangkok 1974". www.the-aiff.com. Hyderabad: All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
4. "IFA (WB) – Team: KIDDERPORE SC". ifawb.org. Indian Football Association. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
5. Sengupta, Somnath (16 December 2010). "Aryan Club — Rising From the Ashes". thehardtackle.com. The Hard Tackle. Archived from the original on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
6. "Club Day: Mohun Bagan - All Time Best XI". www.goal.com. Goal. 7 October 2008. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
7. "Home". Prasun Banerjee. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
8. "Trinamool Congress' Prasun Banerjee wins Howrah bypoll, CPM blames BJP, 'terror'". The Indian Express. Press Trust of India. 5 June 2013. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
9. "West Bengal: TMC's Prasun Banerjee wins Howrah by-poll by 27,000 votes". IBN Live. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
10. "General Elections to Lok Sabha 2014 Constituency Wise Trends & Results". West Bengal. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
11. "MyNeta link". Archived from the original on 22 July 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
12. "Trinamool MP Prasun Banerjee slaps Kolkata traffic constable". India Today. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
13. "McDowell's Mohun Bagan Ex-Captain, Member of Parliament Prasun Banerjee felicitated by AIFF". Mohun Bagan. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
14. The Indian Senior Team at the 1977 Bangkok Kings Cup: Archived 19 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine indianfootball.de. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
15. Media Team, AIFF (15 August 2022). "Indian Football Down the Years: Looking back at the glorious moments". www.the-aiff.com. New Delhi: All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
16. Morrison, Neil. "Asian U-19 Championship 1974". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
17. "LIST OF ARJUNA AWARD WINNERS - Football | Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports". yas.nic.in. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 25 December 2007.
18. "List of Arjuna Awardees (1961–2018)" (PDF). Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (India). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
19. Chaudhuri, Arunava (2000). "National Award winning Footballers". indianfootball.de. IndianFootball. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
20. "Mohammedan Sporting bestow Shan-e-Mohammedan to Prasun Banerjee". The Blog » CPD Football by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel. 5 July 2016. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.

Further reading

• Ghoshal, Amoy (23 November 2016). "All time Indian XI". sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.