Sunday 29 May 2016 will forever be marked as a something of a landmark day for Indian football. Playing for Stabaek in Norway’s Tippeligaen, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu achieved a historic feat by becoming the first Indian footballer to start in a European top-flight league game. It may barely have caused a ripple across much of planet football, but for the world's second most populous nation it is a moment that could prove to be a point of reference for the years and decades to come.
Sandhu is hardly a headline name, and he is certainly less well-known than some of his compatriots. Many among football’s intelligentsia are familiar with Baichung Bhutia – aka the Sikkimese Sniper – who played in England’s lower leagues, or Sunil Chhetri who briefly featured in Major League Soccer for Sporting Kansas City.
Sandhu patiently bided his time in Norway, spending the best part of two years in Stabaek’s reserves before finally getting his first league start. That day arrived with Sandhu debuting, appropriately enough, against the club known as IK Start.
And so now, following a breakthrough period at both club and international level, Sandhu appears on track to be the next poster-boy of Indian football. Not that his reward has come easily. The Punjab-raised goalkeeper’s journey has been one forged on unyielding commitment and sheer hard work.
Sandhu signed a three-year deal in 2014, aged 22, and has endured what must have seemed an interminable wait for his opportunity. Standing in his way has been the formidable shadow cast by Sayouba Mande, who featured in Côte d'Ivoire’s 2014 FIFA World Cup™ squad.
Picture and Report courtesy: www.fifa.com
Shop
