Jarnail Singh was born on1936 in Panam, Hoshiarpur, Punjab and he is regarded as one of the most outstanding defenders of India. Like many of his illustrious compatriots, Jarnail played a pivotal role in shaping India`s football fortunes during 1950`s and 1960`s, the golden era of Indian football.

Jarnail Singh Dhillon`s Football Career
Dhillon began playing at the tender age of 16 for the Khalsa Collletge, Mahilpur of Punjab in the year 1952. He played there for the next four years. For the year 1956-57 he played for the Khalsa Sporting club. Before joining the Mohan Bagan club he played for the Rajasthan Club during the year 1957-58. Playing for a period of 10 years, he contributed to the Mohan Bagan Club from 1958 to 1968.

An outstanding player with incredible skills, Jarnail has made remarkable contributions towards the successes of Indian football. His heroics in the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games are part of Indian football folklore now. Braving a nasty head-injury that required six stitches, Jarnail, in his new role as a forward, scored crucial goals in the semi-final and final to fetch India its maiden Asiad football gold. Two years later, when India became the runner-up in the 1964 Asia Cup at Tel Aviv, Jarnail was at his best marshalling the defence with authority and guile. After another commendable show at the Merdeka tournament in Malaysia in the same year, Jarnail took over the reins of the team from Chuni Goswami and continued for more than two seasons with a fair bit of success.

At the domestic circuit, Jarnail was associated with the Mohun Bagan Club for 10 glorious years when the green-and-maroon team swept all the major titles at the national level. After quitting from Mohun Bagan in 1969, Jarnail went to play for Punjab and inspired the team to win the first Santosh Trophy in 1970 as a coach-cum-player. The team repeated its success in 1974, playing against Bengal and scoring a 6-0 in the finals.

During the tenure of 1985 to 1990, Jarnail Singh served as the Deputy Director of Sports for the state of Punjab. He also served as the Director of Spots for the same state during 1990 to 1994. The only Indian to be the Captain of the Asian All Star Football team, Jarnail was bestowed upon the prestigious Arjuna Award in 1964. During his visit to his son Harsha Mohan Singh in Vancouver (Canada) he was admitted to a hospital and on 13th October 2000 Jarnail passed away due to an asthmatic disorder.