Manna was born on September 1, 1924, in Batra, Howrah District, Bengal. Sailendra Manna, former India captain and defender par excellence, brought laurels to the nation with his virtuosity on the soccer turf. Manna started his football career with the second division Howrah Union in the Calcutta League. He was a member of the first-ever Indian football team on an overseas tour that took part in the 1948 London Olympics. Despite playing barefoot India lost to France by a narrow margin of 1-2 with Manna missing a crucial penalty.

Post-Olympics, Manna led India to the inaugural Asian Games gold in 1951 when they beat Iran 1-0 in the final. Under Manna`s leadership, India won four successive titles in the South East Asian quadrangular meet (featuring India, Pakistan, Burma and Sri Lanka) between 1952 and 1955. At the club level, Manna`s name was synonymous with the Mohun Bagan AC. After joining the club in 1942, he remained with the green-and-maroon brigade for the rest of his career. He became captain of the Mohun Bagan team in 1951 and went on to win the Durand Cup five times, including three times consecutively. His team also won the IFA Shield six times, including four times continuously in a row.