Sunil Chhetri: Indian football’s centre of gravity

Just over five years ago, when India was competing in the four-nation Intercontinental Cup in Mumbai, Sunil Chhetri made an impassioned plea urging fans to come and watch national team matches at the stadium. A paltry 2000-odd people had turned up for India’s victory over Chinese Taipei, and it required prayers from Chhetri, and fellow India sporting greats in Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Sania Mirza, to goad supporters to fill up the Mumbai Football Arena.

On July 4, 2023, more than 26,000 fans witnessed India lift its ninth SAFF Championship trophy at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. Chhetri, nearly 39, stood grinning ear-to-ear and basked in the limelight. Through the fortnight, aficionados had thronged the venue, undeterred by the rains and the cold blustery winds. There were no social media appeals, no amplification techniques. Everything felt pure and organic.

To many, it was a definitive sign that the new-age Indian football fan was in it for the long haul. The SAFF Championship success, close on the heels of the triumph in the Intercontinental Cup in June, may not have come against higher-ranked opponents. The players, Chhetri included, are still a far cry from their illustrious European and South American peers. Even now, India is 100th in the FIFA rankings and is only the 18th-best nation in the Asian confederation.

Buzz of positivity

But there is an unmistakable buzz of positivity around Indian football these days. Under head coach Igor Stimac, there is a genuine attempt to play a progressive style of football. There is a new crop of younger and fitter players that is emerging, coached in modern-day methods and tactics in highly professionalised set-ups.

Chhetri is that Indian side’s centre of gravity. It finally feels like he is part of a team that matches his self-assurance and drive. At a time when most sporting careers would have wound down, Chhetri seems fitter and more energetic than ever. He played every minute of India’s SAFF Championship semifinal and final against Lebanon and Kuwait over a four-day window, both of which lasted 120 minutes and more.

“He just wants to win at everything,” says Pradhyum Reddy, who was the assistant coach at Bengaluru FC (BFC) when the club was formed in 2013. “Whether it is table tennis, badminton or cards… he is just super competitive. That is infectious, and as a coach you would want that.

“When the younger players see him, they are like ‘wow, he is still doing it at 38’. When foreign players come into an Indian club and they see an Indian player being such a good role model, they realise that it is a serious environment here.”

It was not a preordained role for Chhetri, but something he grew into. In a glittering career that has seen him score 92 international goals from 142 games — fourth in the all-time list — and win the SAFF Championship (four times), Nehru Cup (thrice), Indian Super League (once), I-League (four times) and Federation Cup (twice), there have been humbling experiences that have given him a sense of perspective and helped him evolve.

When he arrived at BFC, he was the bona fide star in a team of relative unknowns. But manager Ashley Westwood benched him for the first game and when he did play, it was on the left and not in his usual position up top.

The foreign stints at Kansas City Wizards (USA) and Sporting Lisbon ‘B’ (Portugal) didn’t go well as he struggled for game time. In the last two seasons, Chhetri hasn’t been a sure-shot starter for BFC too, making the XI in only 26 of 40 ISL games. From 2017 to 2021, Chhetri had started 76 of 78.

Proving his worth

But there was seldom any outward bitterness, only the unflinching desire to work harder than ever and be an example. He showed his real worth in the four playoff matches in 2022-23 as BFC reached the ISL final. He didn’t start any of those matches, but scored three of BFC’s five goals, including a cheeky free-kick that left Kerala Blasters deeply embarrassed and a remarkable header after hoodwinking a defence led by Mumbai City FC’s Mourtada Fall, a player nearly a foot taller.

“It was a bit tough to see him come off the bench the whole of last season, but during the business end of matches, in those clutch moments, there is no one else you would want around you to take a penalty, a free-kick, to score a goal from a header,” says former Australia international Erik Paartalu, who shared the dressing room with Chhetri at BFC from 2017 to 2021. “Just to lead with his willingness to win the game. Everyone believes that they can win the game when Sunil is on the pitch.”

It is this same zeal that has characterised his fitness work, for to prance around a football turf and be sprightly when you are close to 40 is a task beyond most. Spencer Mackay, Head of Strength and Conditioning at the Inspire Institute of Sport, where the Indian captain has trained for a considerable period, says that Chhetri’s success is more earned than given.

“During Covid, we did a solid eight-week training block for enhancing his strength and building his power from that strength so that we could maximise his speed,” recollects Mackay.

“For that, he was ready to be coached by our 14 and 15-year-old female wrestlers, who are very good weight-lifters. Even if it means an improvement of 0.01%, he is going to take that. In my position, I have seen some of India’s best athletes, like Neeraj [Chopra], Vinesh [Phogat]. Chhetri is one of them. So I am not surprised in the slightest [at what he is doing], but still in awe every single time.

“He didn’t play every minute of the ISL but against the Middle East teams [Kuwait and Lebanon in the SAFF Championship], there is a fair jump in the standards. So, fundamentally, he re-conditioned himself to the requirements of the game, to take that higher intensity, going into extra-time and penalties. If I was putting my money on someone to do it, it would be him.”

Legacy-defining quest

However, even the most magical of sporting journeys is in a constant search for an end-of-career legacy-defining feat, and Chhetri would be hoping for that to come at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar next January. India isn’t expected to set the tournament on fire. But to get out of a group that has Australia (World No. 27), Uzbekistan (No. 74) and Syria (No. 94) would be a major achievement.

“For Sunil there won’t be a legacy [to look back at] because he will be involved in football in some capacity,” predicts Paartalu. “I don’t see anyone in India doing a better job than him on the pitch now. He will continue to make the standard of football rise. He is the one key… you can see that with so many sponsors coming in. BFC has given him a two-year contract at 38! That speaks volumes about what Chhetri is worth.”