I. M. Vijayan

I.M. Vijayan

Vijayan in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Inivalappil Mani Vijayan
Date of birth	(1969-04-25) 25 April 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth	Thrissur, Kerala, India
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1987–1991	Kerala Police		(33)
1991–1992	Mohun Bagan		(27)
1992–1993	Kerala Police		(30)
1993–1994	Mohun Bagan	55	(18)
1994–1997	JCT Mills Phagwara	44	(19)
1997–1998	FC Kochin	50	(24)
1998–1999	Mohun Bagan	33	(15)
1999–2001	FC Kochin	47	(22)
2001–2002	East Bengal Club	18	(19)
2002–2004	JCT	34	(10)
2004–2005	Churchill Brothers	16	(22)
2005–2006	East Bengal Club	41	(11)
Total		284	(142)
International career
1992–2003	India	72	(29)
Medal record   India Winner SAFF Championship 1993 Winner SAFF Championship 1997 Winner SAFF Championship 1999 SAFF Championship 2003
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Inivalappil Mani Vijayan (born 25 April 1969), also known by the nickname Kalo Hiran (Blackbuck), ^[1] is a former professional football player who also captained the India national football team. He played as a striker, ^[2] where he formed a successful attacking partnership with Bhaichung Bhutia for the India national football team in the late nineties and early 2000s. Vijayan was crowned Indian Player of the Year in 1993, 1997 and 1999, ^[3] the first player to win the award multiple times. ^[4] He was also awarded the Arjuna Award in 2003. ^[5]

Vijayan started his career with the Kerala Police football club and rose to become one of the top names in domestic football. A highly aggressive player, he eventually became the highest earner in Indian club football as well as a regular choice in the Indian team. He scored one of the fastest ever international goals in a match against Bhutan in the 1999 SAF Games, where he managed to score in 12 seconds after kickoff.

Vijayan's talents attracted interest from the clubs in Malaysia and Thailand, although he spent his entire career in India until retirement. By the end of his career he had scored 29 international goals in 70 matches for India. Since retiring from international football, Vijayan has set up a football academy to train young players in his home town. He was the captain of Indian football team from 2000 to 2004.

Vijayan has also acted in some notable roles in many movies. One of his movies, Mmmmm was shortlisted for India's entry into the 93rd Academy Awards. ^[6]

Early life and domestic career

Vijayan was born into a Malayali Family ^[7] on 25 April 1969 at Thrissur City, Kerala. He began his life in a gravely poor environment, and had to sell soda bottles in the Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium to help his family. Vijayan started out as a soda seller in the Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium, Kerala earning 10 paise. (0.02 Cents) a bottle He studied in Church Mission Society High School, Thrissur (CMSHSS, Thrissur). He had passion for the game of football, and somehow caught the eye of the then DGP of Kerala, M.K. Joseph who got him selected for the Kerala Police football club at 17 years of age. Vijayan delivered brilliant performances for Kerala Police at Quilon Nationals 1987, and was able to impress the national football fraternity very soon with his impeccable skills and highly aggressive style of playing. He continued to play for Kerala Police until 1991. He then joined Mohun Bagan, before coming back to Kerala Police in 1992 and then switching back to Mohun Bagan the very next year for a second spell at the club. In 1994, he joined JCT Mills Phagwara, and stayed with them for 3 more years until 1997, when he left JCT to join FC Kochin. After spending a one year tenure with the club, he moved once more to Mohun Bagan in 1998, his third spell with the club, and then returned to FC Kochin in 1999. ^{[8] [9]}

Vijayan with Bhaichung Bhutia in the inauguration ceremony of Palakkad Noorani Football stadium

In August 2000, during the off-season, Vijayan joined Bangladeshi Dhaka Premier Division League club Muktijoddha Sangsad and appeared in five league matches, ^{[10] [11]} while the lack of international transfer certificate behind the signing caused a fine of 50,000 rupees by the All India Football Federation in March 2001. ^[12] He rejoined FC Kochin later and played until 2001. ^[13] He later signed with East Bengal, before leaving in 2002 to join JCT Mills Phagwara once more. After finishing a two-year stint with the club, he left JCT in 2004 and joined Churchill Brothers S.C. He left the club after one year and joined East Bengal in 2005, which was his last professional football club as an active football player. He left East Bengal in 2006. In the 2020–21 season, Vijayan appeared with Gokulam Kerala's futsal team.

International career

I.M. Vijayan made his debut in international football in the year 1992 and played in a number of tournaments such as Nehru Cup, Pre-Olympics, FIFA World Qualifiers, SAFF Championship and SAF Games. Vijayan and Bhaichung Bhutia formed one of the deadliest forward lines the Indian Football team had ever seen, and helped the team score various vital goals in international tournaments. ^[14] Vijayan was part of the victorious Indian team in the 1999 South Asian Football Federation Cup and scored one of the fastest international goals in history of sport during the tournament, hitting the net against Bhutan after only 12 seconds. ^[15] He also finished top scorer in the Afro-Asian Games event held in India in 2003 with four goals. Vijayan formally retired from international football after the Afro-Asian Games of 2003. ^[3]

Career statistics

International

FIFA Statistics [16] Year Apps Goals 1992 2 2 1993 17 6 1994 4 0 1995 3 2 1996 3 0 1997 7 6 1998 7 1 1999 12 [lower-alpha 1] 10 2000 1 0 2001 8 3 2003 8 2 Total 72 29

List of international goals scored by I. M. Vijayan

Scores and results list India's goal tally first

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	9 May 1992	Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata	Pakistan	1–0	2–0	1992 Asian Cup qualifier
2.				2–0
3.	24 January 1993	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Madras	Cameroon	1–0	1–1	1993 Nehru Cup
4.	13 June 1993	Bourj Hammoud Stadium, Beirut	Hong Kong	1–0	3–1	1994 World Cup qualifier
5.				3–1
6.	16 July 1993	Railway Stadium, Lahore	Sri Lanka	1–0	2–0	1993 SAFF Championship
7.	21 July 1993	Railway Stadium, Lahore	Nepal	1–0	1–0	1993 SAFF Championship
8.	23 July 1993	Railway Stadium, Lahore	Pakistan	1–1	1–1	1993 SAFF Championship
9.	23 December 1995	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Madras	Sri Lanka	1–0	1–0	1995 South Asian Games
10.	25 December 1995	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Madras	Nepal	1–0	3–0	1995 South Asian Games
11.	7 September 1997	Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu	Bangladesh	1–0	3–0	1997 SAFF Championship
12.				2–0
13.	11 September 1997	Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu	Pakistan	1–0	2–0	1997 SAFF Championship
14.				2–0
15.	13 September 1997	Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu	Maldives	3–0	5–1	1997 SAFF Championship
16.				5–1
17	7 December 1998	Supachalasai Stadium Bangkok	Turkmenistan	1–3	2–3	1998 Asian Games
18.	26 September 1999	Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu	Pakistan	3–0	5–2	1999 South Asian Games
19.				4–0
20.				5–0
21.	4 October 1999	Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu	Maldives	1–1	3–1	1999 South Asian Games
22.	20 November 1999	Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium, Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	1–0	1–3	2000 Asian Cup qualifier
23.	24 November 1999	Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium, Abu Dhabi	Uzbekistan	2–1	2–3	2000 Asian Cup qualifier
24.	28 November 1999	Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium, Abu Dhabi	Bangladesh	1–0	2–2	2000 Asian Cup qualifier
25.	4 May 2001	Althawra Sports City Stadium, Sanaa	Yemen	3–2	3–3	2002 World Cup qualifier
26.	20 May 2001	Bangalore Football Stadium, Bangalore	Brunei	2–0	5–0	2002 World Cup qualifier
27.	26 June 2001	Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur	Uzbekistan	1–2	1–2	2001 Merdeka Tournament
28.	18 January 2003	Bangabandhu Stadium, Dhaka	Pakistan	1–0	2–1	2003 SAFF Championship
29.	24 March 2003	Fatorda Stadium, Margao	North Korea	1–0	1–1	2004 Asian Cup qualifier

Honours

Vijayan being felicitated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup opening ceremony, in New Delhi, October 6, 2017.

India

• SAFF Championship: 1993, 1997, 1999; third place: 2003
• South Asian Games Gold medal: 1995; Silver medal: 1993; Bronze medal: 1999
• Afro-Asian Games Silver Medal: 2003 ^[18]

Kerala

• Santosh Trophy: 1992–93 runner-up 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1999–2000

Bengal

• Santosh Trophy: 1993–94

Kerala Police

• Federation Cup: 1990, 1991

Mohun Bagan

• Federation Cup: 1992, 1993, 1994

JCT Mills

• Federation Cup: 1995, 1995-96

Individual

• Arjuna Award: 2003 ^{[19] [20]}
• AIFF Player of the Year: 1992, 1997, 2000 ^{[21] [22] [23] [24]}
• Nehru Cup Best Player: 1993 ^[25]
• SAARC Gold Cup top scorer: 1993
• Afro-Asian Games top scorer: 1993 ^[18]
• Nominated for Padma Shri: 2020
• Doctorate from Northern State Medical University, Arkhangelsk, Russia. ^{[26] [27] [28] [29]}
• Sportskeeda All time Indian Football XI ^[30]

Kalo Harin

A biographical film, titled Kalo Harin and directed by Cherian Joseph, was released in 1998. The title translates as blackbuck and is a reference to Vijayan's popular nickname during his playing days. ^{[31] [32]}

Acting career

After retiring from football, Vijayan started his acting career. His debut was through playing the lead role in the film Shantham , directed by Jayaraj. Later on, he went to act more than 20 films, in Malayalam & Tamil. In 2021, the movie 'Mmmmm' (sound of pain), starring Vijayan in the lead role was shortlisted as one of India's official entries for the Oscars. ^[33]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Shantham	Velayudhan
	Akashathile Paravakal	Walayar Manikyam
2004	Quotation	Vettu Rajan
2005	Ben Johnson
2006	Thimiru	Chinna Karuppu	Tamil film
	Shyaamam
	Kisan	Football Coach
	Mahasamudram	Himself
2012	Asuravithu	Valarpadam Kurudhu Musthafa
	Bachelor Party
2015	Komban	Muthukalai	Tamil film
2016	Gethu	Rajendran	Tamil film
2017	The Great Father	Anto
	Mythili Veendum Varunnu
2018	Mattancherry
	Abrahaminte Santhathikal	DYSP Muhammed Jalal
2019	Ganesha Meendum Santhipom	Katthari	Tamil film
	Porinju Mariam Jose	Kuriyachira George
	Bigil	Alex	Tamil film
2021	Muddy		[34]
	Mmmmm: Sound of Pain		Oscar shortlisted [35]
2022	Siddy		[36]
	The Teacher	Gunashekharan	[37]
	Anaparambile Worldcup		[38]

Family

Vijayan is married to Raji. He has 3 children: Aromal, Archana and Abhirami. He has a son in law, Abdul Aadil, and a granddaughter named Adeeva.

Other activities

In 2004, he started a sports equipment company named "Boxer Sports Goods Company (BSGC)" in Thrissur. ^{[39] [40]}

After retirement from active football, Vijayan concentrated his attention upon his football School that he had opened in Thrissur.

He was also a member of the now defunct National Congress (Indira). ^[41] In 2010, Vijayan formally took over a coaching job with Southern Samity, a premier division side in the Calcutta Football League. ^[42] In March 2017, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, appointed Vijayan as the national observer for football. ^[43] In October 2018, Vijayan announced that he is starting a film production company called 'Bigdaddy Entertainment' jointly with his friends, which will be mainly revolving around football. ^{[44] [45]}

In January 2017, Vijayan officially unveiled the club crest of newly formed I-League club Gokulam. ^[46] In February 2021, Vijayan was appointed as the director of Kerala Police Football Academy, a new police football academy, which is going to be set up in Malappuram. ^[47]

On 2 September 2022, Vijayan was elected as a member of the technical committee of the All India Football Federation. ^{[48] [49] [50]}

See also

• India portal
• Biography portal
• Association football portal

• AIFF Player of the Year
• List of India national football team hat-tricks
• List of India national football team captains

Notes

1. Bhutan Football Federation became a member of FIFA only in the year 2000. ^[17] so, the match against Bhutan at the 1999 South Asian Games is not considered a FIFA 'A' international match by FIFA.

References

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Further reading

Bibliography

• Majumdar, Boria; Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2006). A Social History of Indian Football: Striving To Score. Routledge. ISBN   9780415348355. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021.
• Basu, Jaydeep (2003). Stories from Indian Football. UBS Publishers' Distributors. ISBN   9788174764546. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022.

Other sources

• "SportMob – Best Indian football players of all time: I. M. Vijayan". SportMob.com. 12 May 2021. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
• Basu, Jaydeep (21 May 2021). "Legendary Football Coach Sukhwinder Singh Shifts to Canada for Good". newsclick.in. News Click India. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
• Raj, Pratyush (17 July 2018). "Minerva Punjab FC rope in Sukhwinder as technical director". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Chandigarh: The Times of India. TNN. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
• Menon, Ravi (7 December 1999). "FC Kochin rope in coach Chathunni". expressindia.indianexpress.com. Kochi: The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
• Vinod, A. (4 May 2002). "A futile exercise, to say the least". sportstar.thehindu.com. Sportstar. Archived from the original on 11 January 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2021.

External links

• I. M. Vijayan Official Website
• Indian legends profile
• I. M. Vijayan – FIFA competition record (archived)
• I. M. Vijayan at IMDb
• Interview with Vijayan in Malayalam
• I.M. Vijayan - Movies