MD ANWAR ULLAH, Dhaka: Asian Football Confederation (AFC) accorded an accolade for Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu, one of the all-time greats of the Bangladesh football, as it published three of his records on its Facebook page.
The AFC authorities on June 25 published the wonderful records set by the legendary booter in his 10-year national career on their Facebook site.
Chunnu, who played for Abahani Limited throughout full professional career, made the national team debut in 1975, since then played with wearing the Red and Green jersey for 10 years in a row with distinction.
Chunnu was the first booter of Bangladesh to score the first goal in the Asian Cup Football when Bangladesh played against Afghanistan in the qualifying round in Dhaka, Bangladesh won by 4-1 with Chunnu opening the scoring.
Chunnu set his second record scoring a hat-trick as the first Bangladeshi footballer in the international football arena when he blasted three successive goals against Nepal in the President Gold Cup in Dhaka in 1983. Bangladesh won the match by 4-2.
Chunnu again became the first man among the Bangladeshi players scoring first goal in the World Cup qualifying round in 1985 when he slammed home the winning goal in the 2-1 victory over Indonesia in 1985.
The AFC posted all three records rare records of Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu on their Facebook – the first player of a country scoring goals on three occasions for the national side.
Chunnu, when talking to this correspondent on Monday, said in his reaction said it is a great achievement for him as AFC evaluated his distinctions and granted an accolade.
“Actually, I think it is a great recognition for me as the highest body of Asian football the AFC took it in their notice and published it on their Facebook,” said the former national star.
“I don’t know whether any player in the world has any such a record to be the first for three times scoring goals for his nation,” Chunnu was excited.
“To me it’s a big reward and a big recognition. I take it as a big achievement in my life. Specially, after scoring a hat-trick in a winning match, really the joy knows no bounds,” Chunnu was overwhelmed when he expressed his reaction.
But Chunnu is very much unhappy and annoyed with the Bangladesh Football Federation as they have no archive to store records of their players.
“They should have archived all the records of the domestic football. It’s very disappointing nobody cares about it,” he further said.
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