Sunil Chhetri

About Sunil Chhetri

Sunil Chhetri is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a striker or winger and captains both the Indian Super League side Bengaluru FC and the Indian national football team. Popularly known as Captain Fantastic, having scored the second highest number of goals in international matches among active male players after Cristiano Ronaldo and 6th on the all time list, he is both the most-capped player and all-time top goalscorer for the Indian national team, with 72 goals in 115 appearances. Sunil Chhetri was named an 'Asian Icon' by AFC on his 34th birthday.Chhetri began his professional career at Mohun Bagan in 2002. He then moved to JCT where he scored 21 goals in 48 games. He signed for the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer in 2010, becoming the third player from the subcontinent of note to go abroad. However, that stint in the United States did not last long and soon he was back in India's I-League where he played for Chirag United and Mohun Bagan before going back abroad. This time he was signed by Sporting Clube de Portugal of the Primeira Liga where he played for the club's reserve side.He helped India win the 2007 Nehru Cup, 2009 Nehru Cup, the 2012 Nehru Cup as well as the 2011 SAFF Championship. He was also one of India's best players during the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup in which India won the tournament and thus qualified for their first AFC Asian Cup in 27 years. He then led India in scoring during their short-lived campaign at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup with two goals. Chhetri has also been named AIFF Player of the Year a record six times in 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018–19.
Sunil Chhetri was born in Secunderabad, India. His father played football for the Indian Army's team while his mother and her twin sisters played for the Nepal women's national team. Chhetri started playing football from a young age taking part in various tournaments.On 4 December 2017, Chhetri married his long time girlfriend Sonam Bhattacharya who is the daughter of the former Indian national football player and Mohun Bagan legend Subrata Bhattacharya. He signed a 3-year deal with global sports giant PUMA India starting from 2020.

Chhetri began his professional football journey with Mohun Bagan of the National Football League after playing with City FC of New Delhi. After his first season with the club, the 2002–03 season, Chhetri had scored four goals as Mohun Bagan finished in seventh place in the table. The next season, Chhetri scored only two goals. The first came against Sporting Goa while the second came against Indian Bank as Mohun Bagan once again finished in the bottom half of the table, in ninth place. Chhetri then once again scored only two goals during the 2004–05 season; this time Mohun Bagan finished eighth in the league and remained in the National Football League on goal difference.

In 2005, Chhetri signed for JCT for the 2005–06 season. During that season, Chhetri scored three goals. He scored twice against Salgaocar before the third came against Sporting Goa, as JCT finished the season that year in sixth place. Meanwhile, in the Santosh Trophy, Chhetri scored two hat-tricks for Delhi in the group stages of the 61st Santosh Trophy against both Orissa and Railways. However, despite Chhetri's best efforts, Delhi were eliminated in the pre-quarter final round after losing 1–0 to Tamil Nadu in extra time.Then, during the 2006–07 season, Chhetri scored a total of eleven goals in ...

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