Top 5 Indian Football players who played for foreign football club.
When we see an Indian footballer playing abroad, his fun is different. It is a great feeling of pride to see an Indian player playing for a foreign club. However, there are very few footballers who have got the chance to play in Europe or any other best foreign league.
The biggest reason for this is that there is a lack of exposure in India and the Indian football team is ranked very low in the FIFA rankings as well. For this reason, foreign clubs hesitate to sign Indian players. There are many players who themselves do not want to play for a foreign club, but there are some players who want to play outside and they showed it by doing so as well.
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We will tell you about the five legendary Indian players who have played for foreign clubs.
1. Mohammad Salim
Mohammad Salim used to play during the time when Indian footballers did not have shoes and used to play barefoot. He used to be part of the Mohammedan sporting side which ruled Kolkata football in the 1930s. He contributed significantly to the Black Panthers’ team winning several titles, including the Calcutta Football League.
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| Credit: social sites |
Seeing his best performance in 1936, the Chinese Olympic side invited him to play some friendly matches. After impressing in the first match, a relative of Salim suggested him to go to Europe for a better chance. Salim was taken to Celtic FC and the club made fun of him there. Celtic FC did not consider the Indian footballer playing barefoot to be worthy of his team, but he signed Mohammad Salim as a contract after seeing the salute’s excellent footwork during the trial.
However, in an unfortunate way, Mohammed Salim became homesick and had to return. The Celtic team asked him to hold a charity match and give 5 percent of the matchman for that match, but they refused. Salim also turned down the offer of a German club.
2. Subrota Paul
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| Credit: social sites |
Early in his career, Subrota Paul impressed everyone by playing for the East Bengal team. He was known as ‘Indian Spiderman’ due to his excellent moves. He was signed by Denmark’s top Football club FC Vestsjaelland in view of his consistent performances.
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| Credit: social sites |
With this, Subrota Paul became the first Indian goalkeeper to play abroad. Although Paul was only kept in reserve, he gained a lot of experience from there. When he returned from there, he had become a better and matured player who is still showing his fire in the Indian Super League (ISL).
3. Bhaichung Bhutia:
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| Credit: social sites |
Baichung Bhutia had to work very hard to earn his name in Indian football but today he is counted among the great footballers of India. In 1990, he earned a name by performing well for the East Bengal team. After this he got an offer to play from England’s Bury FC team.
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| Credit: social sites |
He also had Trail with Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion, but eventually he tied up with the Manchester team. He played a total of 37 bouts for the team in three seasons and also scored many fine goals. He returned in 2002 and went on to play for Malaysia’s Perak FA team after playing one season with Mohan Bagan. He went there under a loan agreement and then played for another Malaysia team, MK Land FC, in 2005.
4. Sunil Chhetri
Sunil Chhetri is one of the biggest footballers in India at the moment. He has won the Indian team in many matches on the basis of his best performance. Sunil Chhetri also played for many foreign clubs. He was not allowed to play for Queens Park Rangers of England earlier as the Indian team was not in the top 70 in the FIFA rankings at that time. This led to Chhetri playing for Kansas City Wizards in 2010. He played in a number of pre-season matches for them including the one against Manchester United.
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| Credit: social sites |
He played for the club for less than a year and was signed by the Sporting Lisbon team in 2012. He played for his reserve team and impressed everyone. He returned to India in 2013 and was then signed by Bengaluru FC.
5. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu may have been the last Indian player to play for a foreign club but he had more success than the rest of the players. He was signed by FC Stabek Club of Norway in 2014. In 2015, he made his senior debut for the team and played all the matches of the 2016 Norwegian Football Cup.
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| Credit: social sites |
He also made his debut in the Norwegian League in the same year and became the first Indian footballer to play in Europe’s top division league. On 30 June 2016, he got a chance to play in a qualifying round match in the Uefa Europa League with the Stabaek team. In 2017, he returned to India.