Sunil Chhetri is called the heart of Indian football because he is one of the country’s most outstanding footballers. He is the captain of FC Bengaluru, where he plays as a striker. The club plays in the Super League. Chherti was also accepted into the national team, where he showed impressive results. Sunil not only shows a masterful game in attack, but also has irreplaceable leadership qualities. The team members believe in him and listen to his recommendations; the main thing is that he always believes in victory and moves towards his goal, despite failures. Recently, a ranking of the most successful scorers in the recent history of football was compiled, and Sunil ended up in third place, passing ahead of C. Ronaldo and L. Messi. If we talk about Indian football, then Chhetri was recognized without discussion as the country’s strongest player of all time. In this article, we will analyze Sunil’s biography, describe the early years of his activity and tell you how the athlete’s career began. Here are the main records of the player. Let’s try to understand how the captain influenced the development of Indian football and tell you what forecasts experts give for the future of the star.
Early Years and the Start of the Career
We first heard about Sunil when he turned 18 and started playing at the AC Mohun Bagan club, where the young footballer could not prove himself and moved to another FC JCT team, he played 47 games there and managed to score 21 goals. The owners of other clubs looked at the promising player, and after a couple of years he was accepted into the Delhi team. In the ST tournament, he managed to score 6 beautiful goals, the last of which was in the quarterfinal game. The Delhi team couldn’t go any further, but Sunil was appreciated. In 2008, India won the AFC with the participation of our scorer. In 2010, Chhetri went abroad, signing a contract with SKC. At the same time, he did not stop playing in the 1st Indian League. Sunil has won the Nehru Cup three times (most recently in 2012) and SAFF 4 times (most recently in 2023). In 2016, Bengaluru players, along with Chhetri, received silver medals by taking second place in the AFC Cup. If you want to bet on this player’s game, you can switch to 1Win and select the match with the coefficient you like from the list. Let’s list below the main teams for which S. Chhetri played at the beginning of his career:
- Mohun Bagan.
- JCT.
- FC East Bengal.
- Dempo SK.
Records and Achievements: National Pride
In 2021, at a grand ceremony, S. Chhetri received India’s most significant sports award. It’s about the Khel Ratna Award. No football player has ever been awarded such an honor before. This suggests that Sunil is a unique player who has made revolutions in national football. Previously, he received the Padma Shri Award, which is considered the fourth most important, and in 2011 the Arjuna Award, which is the second most important. First of all, the player is known for his brilliant club career, where he scored a record number of goals and was among the top five scorers of all time. If we take international matches, then according to approximate calculations, he sent about 150 goals into the opponents’ goal in 20 years of his activity. The captain’s career is not over yet, and everyone expects new achievements from him.
Chhetri’s Influence on the Development of Football in India
Players like Chhetri are promoting the sport of India, making football more attractive and instilling faith in new players. Everything is real – Indian scorers can score against Europeans and win. The main thing is to have talent and constantly improve. This was said by S. Chhetri at the award ceremony. When the Indian Under-16 Boys Championship was held, Chhetri was congratulated by N. Modi, who was the prime minister of the country at that time, it happened in New Delhi. Of course, every student dreams that his career will develop in a similar way. It is necessary not only to be patient and try hard, but also to show high results. Amateur and semi-professional football is developing in India. Parents send their children to youth clubs. Some teenagers show a good game class.
Leadership Inside and Outside the Field: a Look Into The Future
Contrary to popular belief, the leader of a team can be not only a scorer, but also a fielder and even a goalkeeper. It so happened that Chhetri not only motivates his team and gives important instructions, but also scores a lot of goals himself. That is, he leads the national team to victory in a variety of ways. This is bearing fruit, and if you watch the games with Sunil’s participation, you can see that he always plays to the maximum of his abilities and never loses faith in winning. This is felt not only by his partners, but also by the audience, who adore their idol. Chhetri is among the ten most recognizable players: his photos and interviews continue to appear in the most famous magazines, on television and on the Internet. S. Chhetri is a player who gave India hope. Despite the popularity of cricket, the level of football in the country is increasing.
