Abdul Jabbar (footballer)

For other people with similar names, see Abdul Jabbar.

Abdul Jabbar (Urdu: عبدالجبار; 1945 – 25 March 2014), was a Pakistani professional footballer who played as a forward. Jabbar played as an inside left forward.^[1] He represented the Pakistan national football team from 1967 to 1969, and is one of the first and few Pakistani footballers to play professional football abroad, joining a club in Turkey.

Abdul Jabbar

Jabbar in 1967
Personal information
Full name	Abdul Jabbar
Date of birth	1945
Place of birth	Lyari, Karachi, British India
Date of death	25 March 2014 (aged 69)
Place of death	Karachi, Pakistan
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Bijli Sports Club
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1962–1963	Karachi Division
1964	PWD
1965	Victoria SC
1966	EPIDC
1967	Dhaka Mohammedan
1968	EPIDC
1968	Mersin İdman Yurdu	2	(0)
1971–??	Pakistan Airlines
International career
1967–1969	Pakistan
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Jabbar was born in 1945 in Shah Baig Line, in the Lyari locality of Karachi.^[2]

Club career

Jabbar started playing football from childhood, and started his senior club career with Bijli Sports Club at the regional Karachi First Division League in 1962. He also represented the Karachi division team at the National Football Championship.^[3][4][5]

Jabbar moved to East Pakistan based departmental side PWD Sports Club in 1964, and moved to Victoria SC the next year. He later represented EPIDC and Dhaka Mohammedan.^[3][4]

After making a good impression with the national team in a match against Turkey at the 1967 RCD Cup,^[6] on 6 April 1968, Jabbar along with his national teammate and fellow Lyari player Maula Bakhsh signed for Turkish First Football League club Mersin İdman Yurdu.^[1][7][8] Both stayed at the club for six months.^[9][10] Jabbar made two appearances with the team against Ankara Demirspor and Hacettepe during the 1967–68 Turkish First Football League.^[11]

After the fall of Dhaka, Jabbar joined Pakistan Airlines and continued to play for the team until his retirement from the game.^[4][5]

International career

Jabbar started his international career in unofficial friendly series against American club Dallas Tornado during their worldwide tour in October 1967. In the first test played in Lahore, Pakistan XI was defeated by 0–2, but the series was levelled with a victory of 4–1 in Dhaka.^[4][5]

His performance led the selectors to include him in the national team for the 1968 AFC Asian Cup qualification in Rangoon in 1967. In the same year he was also part of the national team in the 1967 RCD Cup.^[4][5] He scored a hat trick in a 4–7 defeat against Turkey at the tournament.^[12]

He also played in unofficial games with the national side against teams from Soviet Union, such as FC Kairat in 1968, the Russian Central Army team in 1969, and in May 1969 when the national side went abroad playing against FC Aşgabat, Zarafshan XI, and Neftyanik.^[4] In the same year, he also participated in the 1969 Friendship Cup held in Tehran where the team played against Iraq and Iran, scoring the last winner goal against Iraq in a 2–1 victory.^[4][5]

Death

Jabbar passed away on 25 March 2014, at the age of 69.^[4][5]

Career statistics

International goals

Scores and results list Pakistan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jabbar goal.

List of international goals scored by Abdul Jabbar

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	28 November 1967	Dacca Stadium, Dacca, East Pakistan	Turkey	2–6	4–7	1967 RCD Cup	[12][13]
2				3–7			[12][13]
3				4–7			[12][13]
4	10 March 1969	Amjadiyeh Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Iraq	2–1	2–1	1969 Friendship Cup

See also

• List of Pakistan national football team hat-tricks