Babu Mani is an Indian former professional footballer. He represented India at the international level and was part of the country's senior national team during the 1990s, a period in which Indian football was undergoing structural changes ahead of the launch of the National Football League.
| Name | Babu Mani |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Indian |
| Sport | Football (association football) |
| National team | India |
Babu Mani emerged through the competitive club football circuit in India, which during his playing years was centred on the Calcutta (Kolkata) Football League and the national-level Federation Cup, with the National Football League being introduced in 1996–97 as the first nationwide league competition organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
Mani featured for the India national football team and was associated with leading Indian clubs of his era. He played in the midfield and was known as a hardworking, technically reliable player during a generation of Indian footballers that included contemporaries who later moved into coaching and administration.
His appearances for India came in the 1990s, when the national team competed in regional tournaments such as the SAFF Championship and qualifying campaigns for the AFC Asian Cup and the FIFA World Cup.
Babu Mani belongs to a transitional generation of Indian footballers whose careers bridged the older state-association-driven football structure and the more organised club-league system that followed the introduction of the National Football League and, later, the I-League and the Indian Super League.