Sunil Chhetri, Indian football team captain’s retirement
On Thursday, Sunil Chhetri the Indian Football Team Captain, India’s highest goal scorer, has announced his retirement from international football.
Chhetri, India’s most seasoned player, made this announcement on social media platform X, He shared a video in which he is mentioning that, the upcoming match of India, FIFA World Cup qualifier game against Kuwait which will be held on 6th June, will be his last.
Sunil Chhetri, a name synonymous with Indian football, with his glittering career over two decades has not only shined in domestic leagues but also imprinted his name on international platform. His journey of football career started from 2002-03 with Mohum Bagan.
He said on social media that, “It’s not that I was feeling tired. When the instinct came that it should be my last game, that I thought about it a lot and eventually I came to this decision. So, will I be sad after this? Of course. Do I feel sad sometimes, every day because of this? Yes. D I miss that after 20 days of training all of this will be gone? Yes. It’ll all be gone. Yes, it took time because this kid inside, he never wants to stop. If given a chance to play for his country, never,”.
He added, “You know, the feeling that I recollect in the last 19 years is a very nice combination between duty, pressure and immense joy. I never thought individually these are the many games that I played for the country. This is what I’ve done, good or bad. But now I did it. This last one and a half, two months I did it.”
“I did it because probably I was going towards the decision that this game, this next game is going to be my last and the moment I told myself first that this is the game that’s going to be my last, is when I started recollecting everything. It was so strange,” he added in his video.
I'd like to say something… pic.twitter.com/xwXbDi95WV
— Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) May 16, 2024
The 39-year-old revealed the decision first to his family and disclosed his wife and mother burst into tears.
“So when I did decide that this is going to be last, I told my mom, my dad and my wife, my family first. My dad was my dad, he was normal. He was relieved, happy, everything. But my mom and my wife strangely started crying and I told them, you always used to bug me that there are too many games, there is too much pressure when you watch me. And now that I’m telling you that I’m not going to play for my country anymore after this game. And even they couldn’t express to me why they burst into tears.”
Born in Secunderabad (in then Andhra Pradesh) on August 3, 1984, football came naturally to Sunil Chhetri. He belongs to a Khatriya family. His father, K. B. Chhetri was an officer in the corps of Electronics and mechanical engineers of Indian Army and also a played football for Indian Army football team and mother Sushila Chhetri and her twin sister played for the Nepal wmen’s national team. In 2017, Sunil has married his long-time girlfriend Sonam Bhattacharya who is the daughter of former Indian international and Mohun Bagan player Subrata Bhattacharya.
In 2022, he has been honored by FIFA with a documentary titled “Captain Fantastic”, for celebrating his successful journey and achievements.
He has made 150 international appearances and scored 94 goals. He is the third highest active international goal scorer, (behind Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Lionel Messi from Argentina). However, he is on fourth place on the all time list.
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