Ashraf Chowdhury

Ashraf Chowdhury (; 1935 – 28 December 1998) was a Bangladeshi football player and coach.

Club career In 1950, Ashraf joined Wari Club; however, he departed after being benched for the first three games. Eventually, he was brought to Dhaka Mohammedan by coach Abdus Sattar in the same year. Ashraf repaid his coach's faith by scoring in his Dhaka League debut against Wari Club. He returned to Wari in 1951 and remained at the club for two seasons. The following year, the attacking trio of Kabir Ahmed, Mari Chowdhury, and Ashraf helped Mohammedan reach the quarter-finals of the IFA Shield. In the quarter-final against Kolkata Mohammedan, the Dhaka side lost 0–3, with Ashraf missing the majority of the game due to injury. In 1959, he was the league's top scorer with 16 goals, including three hat-tricks, and again helped Mohammedan win the league title. In the same year, the club won the 1959 Aga Khan Gold Cup, with Ashraf scoring in a 2–0 victory over KMC in the final. Ashraf scored a total of 56 goals in all competitions that year. He remained club captain till 1960, during which the Black and Whites became one of the strongest teams on the continent.

In 1957, he played an integral role alongside Kabir Ahmed and Mari Chowdhury as the East Pakistan White team finished runners-up in the National Championship held in Dacca. During the tournament, he scored a hat-trick against Pakistan Navy in a 5–2 victory, with the other goals being scored by Kabir Ahmed and Nabi Chowdhury. Prior to the final against Punjab, Ashraf was injured and was replaced by S.A. Jamman Mukta in the game, which was won 2–1 by Punjab.

In 1959, he was part of the team that again finished runners-up after being defeated by Balochistan 0–1 in the final held in Hyderabad on 7 November 1959.

International career Ashraf was one of the six Bengali played present in the Pakistan national team at the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games. The team, tied the first game 1–1 with South Vietnam and lost its final game 1–3 to the Republic of China. Prior to the tournament, he participated in exhibition matches against the likes of Malaya and Singapore.

Coaching career Following his retirement from playing in 1963, Ashraf distanced himself from football until Dhaka Mohammedan general secretary Moinul Islam appointed him as the club's head coach in 1975. Ashraf guided the club to consecutive First Division titles in 1975 and 1976. In his second stint as head coach in 1978, Ashraf again helped the Black and Whites win the league title. In 1998, Ashraf guided Prantik KC to the Dhaka Second Division League title.

Honours Player Mohammedan SC Dhaka First Division League: 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963 Independence Day Tournament: 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963 Aga Khan Gold Cup: 1959

Dhaka Wanderers Dhaka First Division League: 1954, 1955 Independence Day Tournament: 1955

East Pakistan White National Championship runner-up: 1957

East Pakistan National Championship runner-up: 1959

Manager Mohammedan SC Dhaka First Division League: 1975, 1976, 1978

Prantik KC Dhaka Second Division League: 1997–98 Dhaka Third Division League: 1995

Individual 1959 − Dhaka First Division League top scorer 1998 − National Sports Award.