Abdul Basit

After the Oldham riots in 2001, Abdul was asked to be Oldham Athletics’ first Community Cohesion Officer, helping to create harmony using his passion for football as a tool. Following this he was Social Inclusion Officer for Greater Manchester FA.

He was then at Bolton Wanderers developing and delivering many ground-breaking projects like the ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ Indian Girls Project as well as Interfaith tournaments. He was picked by the FA to go out to Malawi (Africa) and worked with over 2000 orphans, accompanied by former England captain Viv Anderson.

He was also the First Team Coach for Oldham Athletics Girls team. For his work, he has received many awards including The Spirit of Britain (British Muslim Awards), Champion of Diversity (Bolton Diversity Awards), Long Service Award for 26 years of voluntary service to grassroots football (Manchester FA), and Lifetime Sports Award (The Fusion Awards).

Once the highest-qualified British Bangladeshi football coach in the UK, he inspired British Bangladeshi players and coaches.

He has been a huge promoter of community cohesion, equality, and diversity and has worked tirelessly at all levels, fighting racism through projects like Kick Racism Out Of Football and Show Racism The Red Card.

More recently and very sadly Abdul suffered a major stroke which left him paralysed down one side, his disability however has not stopped him, he still goes out twice weekly delivering football sessions for the ‘My Coldhurst’ project engaging over 150 young people.

A proud Oldhamer, always flying the flag for his beloved hometown.