After Julfikar Gazi, Bengal Football Academy (BFA) is going to present another promising footballer of the future. He is Tanbir Dey, the 16-year-old wing-half and striker from Duttaphulia village in Nadia district. 

Tanbir was the top scorer for the runner-up Bengal in the under-16 national championship in Odisha last year scoring five goals. He also had assists in the CFL First Division this year for BFA. 

Julfikar, the custodian who represented the country's under-17 national team in the AFC qualifiers last year has already been picked up by East Bengal. 

Like his colleagues at BFA, Tanbir is also inspired by Julfikar's rise and dreams of representing India and joining the ISL team in the future. 

Tanbir resides in a remote village of Nadia district Duttaphulia. His father, a teacher at a primary school once wanted his son to concentrate on study to make a bright academic future and get a job. But after Tanbir had an impressive show in the selection trial and got admitted to Sports Authority of India (SAI) his parents encouraged him only to continue playing football. 

Still, Tanbir who scored goals for SAI in the under-18 I-league in 2019, had to fight against one crucial obstruction in his early days. He learned the basics of the game under local coach Biplab Adhikari. But he did not have ground for training. The full-sized ground was there at the village but football was not allowed due to political functions. Tanbir revealed, “We were nearly 60 boys at Biplab sir’s coaching but a small ground (four-a-side) was allotted to us. It was not possible for us to practice there.” 

During the critical phase, Tanbir mentioned Sujit Paul's name, an NIS coach who helped him a lot, roaming around the village to find out ground for his training.

Tanbir joined the state government-run BFA one-and-half years ago and is happy with the training system, infrastructure, and coaches. 

The ardent fan of Cristiano Ronaldo often watches Ronaldo’s videos and interestingly he divulged scoring against Uttar Pradesh in the nationals following Ronaldo’s style was the most memorable so far. “Receiving a ball in the left and after penetrating down the flank I cut inside and scored the goal, just as Ronaldo scores. It was a precious moment. I often try to score goals in this way during the training," stated Tanbir. 

Tanbir sounds motivated also by the opportunity BFA has obtained to take part in the ongoing Elite League (under 17). He sounded firm concluding, "I must have an impressive performance in the League which will help me to transit towards the next level."