Hassan Al-Mamun (Bengali: হাসান আল-মামুন; born 16 December 1978) is a Bangladeshi former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was mainly deployed as a full back who could play on both sides of the field. He represented the Bangladesh national team from 1995 to 2008. He currently works as an assistant coach for the national team under Javier Cabrera.
Club career
Mamun began his career with Team BJMC in 1992, while he was still in tenth grade. He then went on to join Fakirerpool Young Men's Club, who were known for developing talented young players during the early 90s, but Mamun established himself as one of the best defenders in the country during his time at Abahani Limited Dhaka. He won the Dhaka League with Abahani before joining Muktijoddha Sangsad KC in 1996.[1]
Mamun spent most of his career captaining Muktijoddha Sangsad, his time at the club lasted for eleven years, during which he won the 2003 National Football League and the Federation Cup in both 2001 and 2003, while his greatest achievements were the Dhaka League triumphs in 1997–98 and 2000.[2][3][4][5][6]
In 2008, Mamun was under controversy after stating in an interview that according to him the government does not care about football and the club officials should be imprisoned for destroying the country's football. His statements lead to 8 professional league teams from Dhaka sign an agreement to not sign the defender for the upcoming B.League season. However, Mamun soon gave another interview in which he said that the journalists misquoted him. He also said that most players alongside him had not been paid for the previous three years.[7]
International career
Mamun made his debut for the Bangladesh national team during their 1995 4-nation Tiger Trophy triumph in Myanmar. This was the country's first ever trophy and Mamun was one of the six new faces integrated into the team by head coach Otto Pfister.[8] In 1996, he captained the Bangladesh U19 team at the 1996 AFC Youth Championship held in Seoul, South Korea. Mamun also scored the opening goal during the qualifiers against Maldives U19 in a 5–0 victory. The following few year saw Mamun establish a regular position in the national team, winning gold in the 1999 South Asian Games along the way. Mamun was also a part of team which won the 2003 SAFF Gold Cup. He played all six matches during the tournament. Anwar Parvez and Mamun's full-back partnership is seen as one of the main reasons Bangladesh won the trophy, as the team played with two strikers and no wingers during the tournament knockout stage.[9] However, during the final against Maldives, with captain Rajani Kanta Barman suspended Mamun played as a centre back while also wearing the captaincy armband.[10]
