Mohammad Abu Yusuf (; born 11 September 1957) is a Bangladeshi football coach and former player, who last served as the head coach of Bangladesh Championship League club NoFeL SC.
Early life
Yusuf was born on 11 September 1957, in Bakshibazar, Dhaka. His father was a religious speaker at the Bakshibazar Mosque while his mother was a stay at home parent. Yusuf is the eldest of six brothers and seven sisters, and spent much of his childhood in Kolkata, where he would become an avid fan of Kolkata Mohammedan. Back in East Pakistan, Yusuf was inspired by Dhaka League players, such as Golam Sarwar Tipu and Abdul Ghafoor.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Yusuf supported his family financially by driving rickshaw's while still studying in eight grade at the Nabakumar Institution. He started playing football through an interschool football tournament, that took place in 1972. He played as a guest footballer for the local teams from Bakshibazar, Chawk Bazar, Panchabati and Churihatta.
Club career
In 1972, Mahuttuli Sporting footballer Khorshed took Yusuf to the trials for Star of Bangladesh Club who played in the Dhaka Third Division League. He failed to make the cut and was later also rejected by Mahuttuli Sporting for being too small. Eventually, the assistant coach of Fire Service SC, Bazlur Rahman, gave Yusuf the opportunity to play for Kamal Sporting in the Dhaka Second Division League. He played two games in the unfinished league. In 1973, Yusuf got a job at the Dhakeswari Cotton Mill, and with them he played a few local tournaments on a monthly salary. In 1974, a Russian coach held trials for the Bangladesh U19 team in Comilla, and Yusuf got into the final squad for the 1975 AFC Youth Championship in Kuwait.
In 1974, he made his Dhaka League debut with Fire Service SC. The following year he joined Rahmatganj MFS, where he spent 6 consecutive years and even guided the club to their highest league position in 1977, when they finished runners-up to Abahani Krira Chakra. In 1980, he moved to Mohammedan SC, and became league champion in both 1980 and 1982. He was also part of the team that won the Ashis-Jabbar Shield Tournament in India, as the Black and Whites became the first Bangladeshi club to win a trophy on foreign soil. In 1981, Yusuf was operated for his injured knee in the middle of the season, which lead to his falling out with the Mohammedan officials.
In 1983, Yusuf joined Abahani Krira Chakra, with them he won a hat-trick of league titles from 1983 till 1985. He was also appointed club captain in 1986, and guided them to their third Federation Cup title. He also found success in continental level, as Abahani were runners-up in the Central Asian Zone of the 1985–86 Asian Club Championship, and champions of India's Charms Cup and Sait Nagjee Trophy, during the latter Yusuf was captain. After almost a decade at Abahani, he joined Victoria SC in 1991, and was later the coach cum player of Jurain Sporting in the Second Division League. Eventually he retired in 1994, as an Abahani player.
International career
After playing for the Bangladesh U19 at the AFC Youth Championship, Yusuf made his senior team debut in 1975, at Merdeka Cup. He labelled his first tournament with the national team as "tragic" due to the 15 August 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état. On the same day, a below par Bangladesh team were compelled to play their last group game against South Korea, which they lost 4–0. He was recalled to the team for the 1978 Asian Games and later lost his place to Shahiduddin Ahmed Selim during the second phase of the 1980 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, in Dhaka.
On 14 September 1979, he scored his only international goal for Bangladesh, in a 3–1 victory over Sri Lanka, at the 1979 Korea President's Cup. Yusuf started all four games at the 1980 AFC Asian Cup, and captained the national team the following year at the first President's Gold Cup. Although he was called up to the preliminary squad for the 1982 Asian Games, he was excluded from German coach Gerd Schmidt's final selection. It was suspected that Yusuf, was scapegoated for Bangladesh's poor performances at the Quaid-e-Azam International Cup and President's Gold Cup tournaments held earlier that year.
At the 1985 South Asian Games final against India, Yusuf was one of the players who failed to covert his penalty as Bangladesh lost 1–4 in the tie-breaker. In both 1986 and 1987 he played at the President's Gold Cup with the Bangladesh Red team.