Inivalappil Mani Vijayan (born 25 April 1969) is a former professional Indian football player. Playing in the striker position, he formed a successful attacking partnership with Baichung Bhutia for the Indian national team in the late nineties and early 2000s. Vijayan was crowned Indian Player of the Year in 1993, 1997 and 1999, the first player to win the award multiple times. He was also awarded the Arjuna award in 2003.
Vijayan started out as a seller of soda in the Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium, Kerala earning 10 paise (0.02 Cents) a bottle. Eventually he was chosen to play for the Kerala Police club and rose to become one of the top names in domestic football. A highly aggressive player, he eventually became the highest earner in Indian club football as well as a regular in the India team. He scored one of the fastest ever international goals in a match against Bhutan in the 1999 SAF Games, when he managed to do the same in 12 seconds. Faster international goals on record include ones by Davide Gualtieri in 8 seconds and Hakan Şükür in 11 seconds. Vijayan's talents attracted interest from clubs in Malaysia and Thailand, although he spent his entire career in India until retirement. By the end of his career he had scored 40 international goals in 79 matches for India. Since retiring from international football Vijayan has set up a football academy to train young players in his home town.Since a short gap presently he is playing for Kerala Police.
Vijayan had a passion for the game of football, and somehow caught the eye of the then DGP of Kerala, M.K. Joseph who got him selected for the Kerala Police football club at the age of 17 years. Vijayan delivered brilliant performance for Kerala Police at Quilon Nationals 1987, and was able to impress the national football fraternity very soon with his impeccable skills and highly aggressive style of playing. He continued to play for Kerala Police until the year 1991, when he switched to Mohun Bagan He came back to Kerala Police in 1992 and the next year switched back to Mohun Bagan. The very next year in 1994 he joined JCT Mills Fagwara, and stayed with them for 3 years till 1997, when he left JCT to join FC Kochin. After spending a one year tenure with the club, he again moved to Mohun Bagan in 1998 and came back to FC Kochin in 1999.
Shri I.M. Vijayan made his debut in international football in the year 1989 and played in a number of tournaments such as Nehru Cup, pre-Olympics, pre-World Cup, SAAF Cup and SAF Games. Vijayan and Baichung Bhutia formed one of the deadliest forward lines the Indian Football team had ever seen, and helped the team score various vital goals in international tournaments. Vijayan was part of the victorious Indian team in the 1999 South Asian Football Federation Cup and scored one of the fastest international goals in history during the tournament, hitting the net against Bhutan after only 12 seconds. He also finished top scorer in the Afro-Asian Games event held in India in 2003 with four goals. Vijayan formally retired from international football after the Afro-Asian Games of 2003.
In 1998 , Director Cherian Joseph made a film called "Kalo Harin”. The films name was reference to the nick name in which I.M Vijayan was known for in the days “ Black Buck”. Also post retirement, from professional football, I.M.Vijayan started his movie career as an actor. He has worked in around 15 Malayalam regional movies so far. He was the lead character in the movie Shantham , directed by Jayaraj. some of his well known movies are Akashathile Paravakal, Shyaamam, Kisan, Komban, The Great Father and so on.
I.M.Vijayan was selected as the Indian Player of the Year - 1993, 1997 and 1999 and was the first Indian to win it multiple times. I.M.Vijayan has been honoured with the Arjuna Award in 2003. In 2010 he started his own Football School in Thrissur.And also the same year he was selected as the coach for the Southern Samity, a premier division side in the Calcutta Football League. In march 2017 , he was appointed as the National Observer for Football, by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports , Government of India.
