KOCHI: Kerala’s love affair with football has found a moment of history. Tahsin Mohammed Jamshid, who has roots in Malabar, has earned a place in Qatar’s 26-member squad for the FIFA World Cup set to be played in the US, Mexico and Canada.He is also the first Malayali to make a men’s World Cup team.
The 19-year-old, however, won’t be the only player with Indian heritage at the football gala. In fact, there are three others.
Nishan Velupillay, whose roots trace back to Tamil Nadu, will be representing Australia; Sarpreet Singh for New Zealand; and Samuel Moutoussamy, who was born in Paris to a Congolese mother and an Indo-Guadeloupean father and whose family traces its roots to the Tamil community, will be representing DR Congo.
Born and raised in Qatar, Tahsin is the son of Hibasil Jamshid from Kozhikode and Shyma from Kannur.
He is also the first player of Indian origin to feature in the Qatar Stars League. He plays for Al-Duhail SC, Qatar’s oldest football team. “Tahsin is a product of Qatar’s youth football system. His parents moved to Qatar in 1996. It was during an inter-school football tournament that he was first scouted,” said D Ravi Kumar, a veteran journalist who has covered the football scene in Qatar extensively.
Tahsin trained at Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence, which is globally renowned for its state-of-the-art facilities, and went on to represent Qatar at the Under-16, Under-17 and Under-19 levels. “It is not common that players of different origin feature in a national side, but because of Tahsin’s exceptional talent, he was considered,” Ravi said.
Tahsin’s international debut came during the World Cup qualification campaign against Afghanistan. Though included in the squad against India, he did not feature in the match, but later played in Qatar’s decisive final two qualification fixtures.
“The boy plays as winger and is known for his ability to beat defenders, create chances and even score. But under Julen Lopetegui, the head coach of Qatar, we may see him move into a more defined position in midfield,” Ravi said.
MP Tharoor hails Tahsin’s selection
“Tahsin may be playing for Qatar, but Malabar’s aspirations run through his veins,” Ravi said. Tahsin’s father, Hibasil Jamshid, is a former Calicut University football player.
In an X post, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor described Tahsin’s selection as “a moment of quiet history” for Kerala, saying the state has long loved football “with an ardour bordering on devotion” but had never sent one of its own to the sport’s grandest stage.
“He wears Qatar’s colours...but his story belongs equally to Thalassery and Valapattanam, and to every child who has dreamt with a ball at their feet,” Tharoor said.