Sunil Chhetri was born on 3 August 1984 and is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team.
59 Facts About Sunil Chhetri
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Sunil Chhetri is known for his link-up play, goal scoring abilities, and leadership.
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Sunil Chhetri is the third-highest international goalscorer among active players, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but fifth overall, and is the most-capped player and the all-time top goalscorer of the India national team.
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Sunil Chhetri was part of Delhi team in the 59th edition of Santosh Trophy held at Delhi.
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Sunil Chhetri scored 6 goals in that tournament including a hat-trick against Gujarat.
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Sunil Chhetri signed for Major League Soccer side Kansas City Wizards in 2010, becoming the third player from the subcontinent of note to go abroad.
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Sunil Chhetri returned to India's I-League where he played for Chirag United and Mohun Bagan before going back abroad, at Sporting CP of the Primeira Liga, where he played for the club's reserve side.
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Sunil Chhetri helped India win the 2007,2009, and 2012 Nehru Cup, as well as the 2011,2015, and 2021 SAFF Championship.
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Sunil Chhetri has helped India win the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, which qualified them to their first AFC Asian Cup in 27 years, scoring twice in the final tournament in 2011.
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Sunil Chhetri received the Arjuna Award in 2011 for his outstanding sporting achievement, the Padma Shri award in 2019, India's fourth highest civilian award.
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Sunil Chhetri began his professional football journey with Mohun Bagan of the National Football League after playing with City Football Club of New Delhi.
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Sunil Chhetri scored twice against Salgaocar before the third came against Sporting Goa, as JCT finished the season that year in sixth place.
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Meanwhile, in the Santosh Trophy, Sunil Chhetri scored two hat-tricks for Delhi in the group stages of the 61st Santosh Trophy against both Orissa and Railways.
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Midway through that season though, in December 2007, Sunil Chhetri was awarded the AIFF Player of the Year award for 2007 for his excellent form and performances for his club and country.
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Sunil Chhetri, stating his desire to move abroad to play alongside Spanish striker David Villa.
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In October 2008, it was rumored that Sunil Chhetri had sparked interest from foreign clubs.
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Sunil Chhetri then went on to score a crucial goal for East Bengal during the Federation Cup in which he scored the only goal against his former club, JCT, which led to East Bengal booking a place in the semi-finals.
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However, on 25 January 2009, Sunil Chhetri arrived in Coventry, England to begin a trial at Coventry City of the Football League Championship, thus rejecting MLS.
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Four months later though, Sunil Chhetri said that he would go back to Coventry City in June 2009 for another extended trial.
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In March 2010 it was announced that Sunil Chhetri was on trial with the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer and that he had played during their pre-season games.
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On 14 April 2010, Sunil Chhetri made his debut for the Wizards in a US Open Cup qualification play-in game against the Colorado Rapids.
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The next day, it was announced that Sunil Chhetri was to compete for the India national team until the end of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.
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The Wizards announced on 5 February 2011 that Sunil Chhetri had officially left the team.
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On 22 July 2011, it was announced by I-League club Mohun Bagan that Sunil Chhetri has signed a one-year deal with the club.
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On 4 July 2012, it was reported that Sunil Chhetri had signed a two-year contract with Sporting CP and would play in their reserve team.
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On 13 February 2013, it was announced that in order to get more playing time Sunil Chhetri would be loaned out to Churchill Brothers in the I-League for the remainder of the season.
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Sunil Chhetri began the season in the 2014 Durand Cup, playing and scoring three times but missed the penalty in the shoot-out in the semi-final against Salgaocar which turned out to be the decisive penalty miss as Bengaluru crashed out.
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Sunil Chhetri scored another brace in the last group stage match of the cup against Pune, scoring one from open play and one from the penalty spot and thus leading his side to the semi-final.
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Sunil Chhetri made history, becoming the first Indian player to score a hat-trick, in his fourth game of the season, against NorthEast United and taking his total of the season to 6 goals in 4 games.
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On 9 June 2016, Bengaluru announced that Sunil Chhetri had signed a one-year contract at the club, thus reverting his ownership rights to the club from Mumbai City.
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Sunil Chhetri scored twice as Bengaluru won the 2016 AFC Cup semi-final tie by beating Johor Darul Ta'zim in Bengaluru.
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Sunil Chhetri was the second top scorer for Bengaluru in the league and won the Hero of the League.
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In 2018, Sunil Chhetri went on to win the Indian Super Cup with Bengaluru FC.
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On 15 February 2021, Sunil Chhetri became the first player to make 200 appearances for Bengaluru FC.
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On 20 June, it was announced that Sunil Chhetri had signed a two-year contract extension until 2023.
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Sunil Chhetri won the 2022 edition of Durand Cup with the team.
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On 12 June 2005 Sunil Chhetri scored his first goal on his debut for the senior India national football team against Pakistan.
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On 15 October 2019, Sunil Chhetri became the only Indian to secure a place in the list of top 10 goalscorers in international football.
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Later that year, in the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, Sunil Chhetri played in all of the matches and scored four goals.
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Sunil Chhetri played for the full 90 minutes against Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
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Sunil Chhetri featured in the other three games in the round robin stage of the tournament, including the "dress rehearsal" for the final against Syria, but did not score.
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Sunil Chhetri scored a goal against South Korea at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.
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Sunil Chhetri was named the national team Captain for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualification which took place in Malaysia.
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On 16 November 2011 Sunil Chhetri scored in the 39th and 53rd minute for India against Malaysia in a friendly match played at the Salt Lake Stadium.
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Sunil Chhetri captained India to a 13 match unbeaten run before losing the final match to Kyrgyzstan.
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Sunil Chhetri was among four renowned Asian players including Ali Daei, Sun Jihai and Phil Younghusband to be chosen for the seeds for the upcoming Asian cup.
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However, after this match, Sunil Chhetri was disappointed with the poor turnout at the stadium and he uploaded a video on Twitter requesting people to come to Mumbai Football Arena to support the Indian team.
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Sunil Chhetri's video went viral and garnered widespread support from fans, celebrities and legendary cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
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Sunil Chhetri finished as the top scorer of the tournament with eight goals.
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Sunil Chhetri was born on 3 August 1984 to K B Chhetri, an officer in the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers of the Indian Army, and Sushila Chhetri in Secunderabad, India.
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Sunil Chhetri's father played football for the Indian Army football team while his mother and her twin sister played for the Nepal women's national team.
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Sunil Chhetri started playing football from a young age taking part in various tournaments.
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On 4 December 2017, Sunil Chhetri married his long time girlfriend Sonam Bhattacharya who is the daughter of former Indian international and Mohun Bagan player Subrata Bhattacharya.
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Sunil Chhetri was named an 'Asian Icon' by AFC on his 34th birthday in 2018.
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Sunil Chhetri signed a 3-year deal with global sports giant Puma starting from 2020.
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Sunil Chhetri, generally, plays as a left winger in his club football to help and supply his foreign centre forward.
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Sunil Chhetri is the face and voice of Indian football, who has inspired a generation and given us hope.
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Sunil Chhetri didn't get to play very much, but by the time he returned he was clearly transformed, and you could see on the field that he was clearly a cut above the rest.
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The Brazilian star Roberto Mendes da Silva Beto was in that side and the regular free kick taker, but Sunil Chhetri knew what he was doing, showing incredible poise and confidence.