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Gazi (standing first from right) with the Jessore District team in 1968.
In 1957, Ali joined Sporting Union in the First Division of the Calcutta League under the recommendation of local trainer, Ramani Sarkar. He spent four years at the club, before joining Kolkata Mohammedan in 1962.[1]
Gazi (standing second from right) with the Nepal bound East Pakistan football team in 1970.
Gazi won the First Division League title on five different occasions, four times with Team BJMC (EPIDC/BIDC) and once with Dhaka Mohammedan. He notably scored for Mohammedan during their title-deciding Dhaka Derby encounter with Abahani Krira Chakra in 1975 during a 4–0 victory.[4]
He was a member of the East Pakistan football team that won the King Mahendra Cup in Nepal in 1970.[4] Gazi represented the President's XI team against Bangladesh XI, in the first football match held in independent Bangladesh, on 13 February 1972. His team won the game held at the Dhaka Stadium 2–0.[5]
Gazi also represented the Jessore District football team and was part of the team that triumphed in the Sher-e-Bangla Cup in 1976. Gazi notably led the Jessore Zonal team against the touring Dinamo Minsk in 1973. He also played against the Soviet club while representing Dhaka XI.[4]
Coaching career
Gazi (standing sixth from right) with the Bangladesh national team in 1987.
In 1978, Gazi began his coaching career with Rahmatganj MFS in the Dhaka First Division League. He spent five years at the club, nurturing future internationals such as Kaiser Hamid, Imtiaz Sultan Johnny and Ashish Bhadra.[6] In 1981, he acted as the assistant coach of Arambagh KS only during Nepal's ANFA Cup and helped them finish runners-up. Gazi joined Arambagh permanently as coach in 1984. He had numerous coaching stints at the club, the longest lasting from 1996 to 2002.[1]
In 2007, Gazi returned to Sheikh Russel KC as coach for the inaugural professional league season.[13] He spent two seasons at the club, guiding them to a fourth and third-place finish, respectively. Gazi retired from coaching after guiding Arambagh to a fifth-place finish in the 2009–10 Bangladesh League.[14]
In 2011, Gazi was appointed technical advisor to Team BJMC.[15] However, he left the role after falling ill during the club's 2013 King's Cup tour in Bhutan.[1][16]
Death
On 31 January 2012, Gazi was put on life support at Labaid Hospital in Dhaka. Although he soon recovered, he was forced to distance himself from football and left his role as the technical advisor of Team BJMC the following year.[17]
On 13 September 2018, Gazi died at his residence in Jessore, Bangladesh.[18][19][20][21]
Dulal, Mahmud (2020). খেলার মাঠে মুক্তিযুদ্ধ (transl. Liberation war in the playground) (in Bengali). Bishhoshahitto Bhobon. ISBN978-984-8218-31-0.
Alam, Masud (2017). ফুটবলের গল্প ফুটবলারদের গল্প (transl. The story of football the story of footballers) (in Bengali). Bishhoshahitto Bhobon. ISBN9789849134688.
