Sunil Chhetri

City Club Delhi

Sunil Chhetri started his career with City Club, a local club based in Delhi and joined them during the 2001–02 season. He represented the club in 2002 Durand Cup where although his team failed to qualify for quarterfinal stage, Chhetri made an appearance in four games and scored a goal. He was named one of the five promising players of the tournament. He was spotted by Mohun Bagan during the tournament who called him to Kolkata for a trial and he went for trial just after joining City Club two months ago.

Mohun Bagan

Chhetri began his professional football journey with Mohun Bagan of the National Football League where he signed his first professional contract after a week trial. After his first season with the club, the 2002–03 season, Chhetri had scored four goals as Mohun Bagan finished in seventh place in the table. The next season, Chhetri scored only two goals. The first came against Sporting Goa while the second came against Indian Bank as Mohun Bagan once again finished in the bottom half of the table, in ninth place. In 2004–05 season, He scored a hattrick against Tollygunge Agragami where he came as a substitute in a 4–0 win.; this time Mohun Bagan finished eighth in the league and remained in the National Football League on goal difference.

JCT

In 2005, Chhetri signed for JCT for the 2005–06 season. During that season, Chhetri scored three goals. He scored twice against Salgaocar before the third came against Sporting…

On 30 March 2004, Chhetri played his first game for the India U-20 football team in the 1–0 victory over Pakistan U-23 team in the 2004 South Asian Games in Pakistan. On 3 April 2004, Chhetri scored twice for the India U-20 team against Bhutan U-23 team in their 4–1 victory. On 12 June 2005 Sunil scored his first goal on his debut for the senior India national football team against Pakistan in the eventual 1–1 draw. On 15 October 2019, Chhetri became the only Indian to secure a place in the list of top 10 goalscorers in international football.

2007–2011

Chhetri's first international tournament was the 2007 Nehru Cup. In the opening game, India defeated Cambodia 6–0 with Chhetri scoring two goals. He also scored a goal in the 2–3 defeat to Syria and another in the 3–0 win over Kyrgyzstan to take his goal tally to four. Chhetri was involved in the build-up to Pappachen Pradeep's decisive goal as India beat Syria 1–0 in the final to become the first champions of the tournament since 1997. Later in 2007, India began their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. They were knocked out in the first round by Lebanon with Chhetri scoring once in the away leg (a 4–1 defeat) and once in the home leg (a 2–2 draw) resulting in a 6–3 aggregate defeat.

The 2008 SAFF Championship started with three victories out of a possible three in the group stages. In the opening game, Chhetri scored a goal in a 4–0 victory over Nepal. He scored once more in the championship—in the 2–1…

Chhetri plays mainly as a central striker. Over a long career, he has changed his tactical duties and physical conditioning. Standing at 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in), he relies on exceptional timing and a strong vertical leap to score headers against taller central defenders. This includes important goals like match-winning diving headers. Writers and analysts also note his high work rate on the field. He helped bring a more professional approach to Indian football by carefully managing his diet and fitness.

Sunil Chhetri was born on 3 August 1984 to Indian Gorkha father K. B. Chhetri, an officer in the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers of the Indian Army, and Nepalese mother Sushila Chhetri in Secunderabad, India. His father played football for the Indian Army football team while his mother and her twin sister played for the Nepal women's national team. He spent most of his childhood in Darjeeling. Chhetri spent his childhood at Pashupati Fatak when he was a student of Bethany School, Darjeeling. He started playing football from a young age taking part in various tournaments. Chhetri speaks five languages fluently: English, Hindi, Nepali, Bengali and Kannada. He can also understand some Telugu, Marathi and Konkani.

On 4 December 2017, Chhetri married his long time girlfriend Sonam Bhattacharya who is the daughter of former Indian international and Mohun Bagan player Subrata Bhattacharya. Sunil Chhetri was named an 'Asian Icon' by AFC on his 34th birthday in 2018. He signed a 3-year deal with global sports giant Puma starting from 2020. On 27 September 2022, FIFA launched a documentary on FIFA+, of three episodes named 'Captain Fantastic', which documents his pre-teen anguish, his debut for India aged 20, his romance with his future wife and his early days and peak as a football player. The 39-year-old footballer welcomed his son Dhruv with his wife Sonam Bhattacharya on 31 August 2023.