The All India Football Federation has declared 23rd June the birthday of Indian football icon Pradip Kumar Banerjee, as the ‘AIFF Grassroots Day’, the sport’s apex body said on Friday.

Popularly known as PK, the late Banerjee captained the Indian team in the 1960 Rome Olympics and enjoyed a stellar career as a player before taking up coaching, where he also tasted plenty of success.

Explaining the reason behind choosing PK’s birthday, AIFF secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran said, “We often forget Pradip-da was a teacher par excellence too. Once he hung up his boots, he took up coaching and for the next 30 years, produced an array of players, who excelled at the national and international levels. While his role as a national and a club coach is much discussed, the Indian football fraternity cannot forget PK-da’s contribution at the grassroots level, his leadership at the Tata Football Academy, his ability to inspire and fine-tune the budding talents." An exemplary footballer, Banerjee played a pivotal role in India’s historic gold medal finish in the 1962 Asian Games.