Swadhin Bangla football team captain Zakaria Pintoo passed away at a city hospital on Monday after prolonged battle with multiple illnesses.
The freedom fighter and Independence Day Award 1995 winner breathed his last at around 11:45am at the age of 81.
Pintoo was suffering from heart, kidney, and liver complications and was admitted at the Ibn Sina hospital in the capital on Sunday after his condition deteriorated.
He left behind one son, three daughters, relatives, and a host of well-wishers to mourn his death.
The first namaz-e-janaza of Pintoo was held after asr prayer at the Dhanmondi Jame Mosque premises on Monday.
The player鈥檚 second namaz-e-janaza is slated for today at the Mohammedan Sporting Club in the capital, followed by his burial at the Shaheed Buddhijibi Graveyard in Mirpur after zuhr prayer.
However, Mohammedan Sporting Club kept its flag half-mast soon after the news came up of Pintoo鈥檚 death.
Pintoo was the first person to wave Bangladesh鈥檚 flag on foreign soil when a group of brave footballers established a team to raise awareness of the country鈥檚 freedom cause around the world by playing across India from 25 July 1971, until the end of the war for independence.
After the independence in 1971, he captained the first Bangladesh national football team in 1973 and was honoured with the National Sports Award in 1978.
Pintoo was born in Naogaon on January 1, 1943, and represented both the Pakistan national football team and the East Pakistan football team, captaining the latter side on numerous occasions before the independence of Bangladesh.
During his club career, Pintoo represented Mohammedan Sporting Club, one of the most popular clubs in Bangladesh, for a period of 14 years from 1961 to 1975.
The defender also represented East End Club from 1957 to 1958 and the Dhaka Wanderers from 1959 to 1961.
The interim government chief adviser, professor Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladesh Football Federation, the Bangladesh Olympic Association, and several other organisations mourned his death through media releases.
听
听
听
Zakaria Pintoo
