1. SUNIL CHHETRI
Sunil is a professional Indian footballer who plays as a striker or winger and captains both the Indian super league side Bengaluru and the Indian national team. Popularly known as captain fantastic, having scored the 2nd highest number of goals after Cristiano Ronaldo, he is both the most capped player and the all-time top goal scorer for the Indian national team with 72 goals in 112 appearances. He is current captain of the Indian national team. Sunil Chhetri was named as 'Asian icon' by AFC on his 34th birthday.
Chhetri began his professional career at Mohun Bagan in 2002. He then moved to JCT where he scored 21 goals in 48 games. He signed for Kansas City Wizard or Major League Soccer in 2010, becoming the third player from the subcontinent of note to go abroad. However, that stint in the US did not last long and soon he was back in India's I League where he played for Chirag United and Mohun Bagan before going back to abroad. This time he was signed by Sporting club De Portugal of the Primeira Liga he played for the club's reserve side.
He helped India win 2007 Nehru cup, 2009 Nehru cup, 2012 Nehru cup and 2011 SAFF Championship. He was also one of India's best player during the 2008 AFC champion cup in which India won the tournament and thus qualified for their first AFC Asian cup in 27 years. He then led India scoring 2 goals in the 2011 AFC Asian cup.
2. BAICHUNG BHUTIA
Baichung Bhutia is a former Indian footballer from the states of Sikkim, who played as a striker. Bhutia is considered as the torchbearer of Indian football in International Arena. He is often nicknamed the Sikkimese Snipper because of his shooting skills in football. Three-time Indian player of the year IM Vijayan described Bhutia as "God's gift to football". Bhutia has had 4 spells to I League football team East Bengal Club, the club where he started his career. When he joined English club bury in 1999 he became the only footballer to sign a contract with a European club and only the second to play professionally in Europe after Mohammed Salim. Afterwards, he had a short loan spell in the Malaysian football club Perak FA. As well as this he had played for JCT Mills, which won the league once during his tenure, and Mohun Bagan which failed to win the league once during his 2 spells in India. His football achievements include winning the Nehru cup, LG cup, SAFF championship three times and AFC challenge cup.
He is also India's most capped player with, 82 international caps to his name and also India's second-youngest international goal scorer after Jerry Zirsanga when he scored his first goal against Uzbekistan in 1995 Nehru cup at the age of 18.
Off the field Bhutia ia known for winning the reality show jhalak dikhla jaa, which caused a lot of controversies with his then club Mohun Bagan, and for being the first Indian to boycott the Olympic torch relay to support The Tibetan Independence Movement.
Bhutia who has a football stadium named after him in honour of his contribution to Indian football has won great awards like Arjuna Award and Padma Shri award.
In October 2011 he found Baichung Bhutia football school in Delhi in partnership with Carlos Queiroz and Nike. In August 2011 he announced his retirement from international football. His farewell match was the India national team on 10 January 2012 against bairam Munich at JLN Stadium, Delhi.
3. IM VIJAYAN
Inivalappil Mani Vijayan popularly known as Kalo Hari (Black Buck) is a former professional Indian footballer. Playing in the striker position he formed a successful attacking partnership with Baichung Bhutia for the Indian national team in the late 90s and early 2000s. Vijayan was crowned Indian player of the year 1993, 1997 and 1999 the first player to win the award multiple times and also he was awarded the Arjuna award in 2003.
Vijayan started out as a seller of soda in the Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium, Kerala earning 10 paise(0.02 cents) a bottle. Eventually, he was chosen to play for the Kerala police club and rose to become one of the top names in domestic football. A highly aggressive player, he eventually became the highest earner in the Indian club football as well as regular in the Indian team. He scored the fastest ever international goal against Bhutan in the 1999 SAF games, when he managed to do the same in 12 seconds. His talent attracted interest from clubs in Malaysia and Thailand although he spent his entire career in India till his retirement. By the end of his career, he had scored 40 international goals from 79 matches for India. After retirement, he had plans of training football to young children in his home town. Since a short gap presently he is playing for Kerala police. He was the captain of the Indian team from 2000 to 2004.
4. VP SATHYAN
Vata Parambath Sathyan was a former Indian professional footballer who played the centre back position. He was the captain of the India national football team from 1991 to 1995. He was named as the All India Football Federation (AIFF) player of the year.
Sathyan started his career in 1983 in the Santosh trophy representing Kerala. He attended the South Zone camp for Indian probables under Amar Bahadur in 1985. Strongly built and a capable defender he joined the national team going to 1985 SAF games in Dhaka. By, 1986 he had represented the country in the Nehru cup in Thiruvananthapuram and in Seoul Asian games.
Sathyan was the key member of the Kerala police football team who won the federation cup twice in 1989 and 1990. He went from Kerala police team to Kolkata in 1991, where he played for 2 seasons one for Mohammedan sporting club and other for Mohun Bagan before coming to Kerala police again and then moving to Indian bank in1996. Sathyan served first as a player from 1995 to 2001 and then as team's coach.
In 1991 he became the captain of the Indian team for world cup qualifiers in Beirut and Seoul. He led the Indian team to a gold medal in 1995 SAF games in Chennai. He also led Kerala to Santosh trophy in 1992. He was also the AIFF player of the year in 1995. As a coach, he was an assistant to Stephen Constantine in 2002 when India toured South Korea.
5. JEJE LALPEKHLUA
Jeje Lalpekhlua is a former Indian footballer who is the captain of Chennaiyin FC and also plays for the India national football team. He is cored highest Indian goal scorer since its inception. In 2015 he won the I League with Mohun Bagan and the Indian super league with Chennaiyin, and was subsequently named as FPAI football player of the year. He mostly plays for the centre forward but is also capable of playing from the wings, he is a right-footed player. He has established himself as one of the foremost names in Stephen Constantine's Indian team. In 2015 he won the ISL emerging player of the season and FPAI football player of the year.
He made his debut for the senior Indian squad on 21 march 2011 against Chinese Taipei in the AFC champion cup qualification match and was the highest-scoring Indian in ISL 2015 from open play, with 6 goals and 3 assists. In the 2016 edition he improved his goalscoring record, as he tallied up nine goals and 2 assists.
He is mostly known for his performance in the 2015 SAFF Cup where he scored 3 goals including an equaliser in the final against Afghanistan, as India went on to win the match in extra time. Jeje has represented clubs like Pune, Pailan Arrows, Dempo, Mohun Bagan alongside Chennaiyin FC.
