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In a news that came out of the blue, stunning everyone and what could be a game changer for Indian Football, the national team captain Sunil Chhetri has been signed by premier Portuguese club Sporting Clube de Portugal, popularly known as Sporting Portugal, Sporting Lisbon or just Sporting. He will appear in the famous lime-green and white colors of the club from the next season on. This is his second stint abroad, after a stint with American club Kansas City Wizards, though he did not play in the league. Chhetri has been signed on for the reserve team. Even then, this is one huge news as far as the Indian Football scene is concerned, as it is for the first time ever an Indian player has been signed by a major first division league club of a major footballing power! Sporting Portugal has released this news on their website:
With the aim of breaking ground in one of FIFA’s most highly regarded markets, where more than 20 million players apply their trade, Sporting has put pen to paper with the Indian national team captain, Sunil Chhetri, who will now join up with the Club’s reserve side.
Sporting Portugal is one of Portugal’s famous “Big Three” clubs which utterly dominate the Portuguese First Division League, known as the Primeira Liga. The other two clubs are Benefica and Porto. The three clubs in between them have 76 titles out of the 78 leagues played so far! Sporting has won the title 18 times, the most recent one being in 2001-02. Sporting Portugal can be said to be the Valencia of the Portuguese League compared to the Spanish League in terms of wins, for those who don’t know. Sporting is also famous as “Ronaldo’s club”, as it was Sporting where Cristiano Ronaldo started his career, honed his skills and became famous!
Sunil Chhetri is the striking force of the Indian Football team, and has scored 33 goals for India in 58 appearances. He was born in New Delhi and took to Footballing when he was studying in class 12. He has played for Mohun Bagan, JCT, East Bengal, Dempo SC and United Sporting Club, Kolkatta. He played for Kansas City Wizards as the first Indian footballer to play for a major league club. Later, in August 2009, he was signed by English Premier League team Queens Park Rangers (QPR) for three years, but that never materialized as he could not get a work permit. He has been playing since 2004.
It is interesting that the Sporting headline is not that they signed Chhetri, but that “Sporting Clube de Portugal has officially opened its doors to the Indian market“, which in itself says a lot. This would mean that the focus is not on any individual Indian player, but on Indian football as a whole, which is incredible news! This is indeed a great moment for Indian Footballing, and hopefully many more clubs will follow to tap the vast potential that lies in Indian footballing. Not being too optimistic, but times of change for Football in India are here!
