Meet Sunil Chhetri: The Messi of India

433: The Home of Football

A short Indian football player walks onto the pitch in the national stadium of Pakistan. The crowd goes nuts. It’s June 2005 and India is about to play an away game versus their arch rivals Pakistan. The main striker of India is injured. He’s replaced by a short, young player named Sunil Chhetri. He is about to make his debut for India in this heated rivalry.

India and Pakistan clash on the football pitch, and for a long time, the two countries are balanced. But then, in the 65th minute, Sunil Chhetri receives the ball in the penalty area and shoots it past the Pakistani goalkeeper. He scores a goal for India during his debut, versus their arch rivals Pakistan. He runs towards the crowd to celebrate, but immediately turns back around when he only sees angry and disappointed Pakistani fans.

That goal was the special beginning of a very special international career. Seventeen years later Sunil Chhetri has become an absolute legend in Indian football. Now, he’s the captain of the nation representing 1.4 billion people. So we approached Sunil Chhetri for this podcast and we were honoured when he was willing to tell us his story.

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