Sunil Chhetri turns 35! The Indian football team captain is regarded by many to be the best Indian player of this generation and is already among all-time greats in India football. With numerous records and milestone already to his name, Chhetri is surely going to be a part of the football folklore in India. He was born on this day in 1984 and began his footballing career with Delhi based City Football Club in 2001. Over the years he has played for many top clubs in the subcontinent and led most clubs to title glory. Sunil Chhetri Birthday Special: Lesser Known Things About Indian Football Captain Who Is The Son of an Army Dad And a Footballer Mom.

But Chhetri's first great moment in his football career came when he guided JCT to a second-place finish in the final season of the National Football League (NFL) and followed it up with another third-place finish next season. He scored a total of 19 goals for JCT in the domestic league and soon started attracting attention from abroad. It was also during his final year with the Punjab based club that Chhetri was awarded the AIFF Player of the Year, his first of many. Take a look at the various records held by arguably the best footballer India has seen. Sunil Chhetri Shares Video of His Son Nutmegging and It Is Beautiful, Check Out Indian Football Team Captain’s Inspirational Post.

AIFF Player of the Year

He first won the award in 2007 and has since then won it five more times, including winning it in consecutive years in 2013, 2014 and 2017, 2018. Chhetri’s six AIFF player of the Year awards is a record that looks difficult to be matched in recent years with the Indian skipper looking extremely ready to win a couple of more. I.M. Vijayan (3) is the only other player to win more than two times, while Bhaichung Bhutia and Jo Paul Ancheri have won it twice each.

Highest Indian Goal Scorer

Chhetri is the highest Indian goal scorer having overtaken Bhaichung Bhutia long back in 2013. Chhetri currently has 71 international goals for India, which is almost 30 more than what Bhutia had scored. Chhetri overtook Bhutia during India friendly game against Nepal back in 2013. Bhaichung is second in the list with 42 goals, while I.M. Vijayan is third with 40 international goals. Chhetri, therefore, is the only Indian to score 50 or more international goals for his country.

International Hat-tricks for India

The birthday boy is also India’s top-most hat-trick goal scorer in the international level. No other player in the history of Indian football had achieved more than one hat-trick before Chhetri registered as many as three hat-tricks for India at the international level. His first came against Tajikistan on August 13, 2008, with India winning the game 4-1. Chhetri scored his second hat-trick in October 2010 against Vietnam and then netted his final hat-trick against Chinese Taipei in June 2018. India has won every time Chhetri has scored a hat-trick.

Second Highest Goal-scorer Among Active International Footballers

Earlier this year Chhetri overtook Lionel Messi of Argentina to become the second-highest international goal scorer among active footballers. He, with 71 international goals is only behind Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 88 goals. Messi is third in the list of active footballers with 68 goals. Ali Daei of Iran leads the international goal-scoring charts with 109 international goals, while Ronaldo is second. Chhetri though has played the last number of matches among the top-three active footballers.

Highest International Capped Indian Footballer

As the many to his name, Chhetri is the highest-capped international footballer of India. He is the only Indian footballer to appear in 100 or more international matches and sits pretty comfortably at the top. The 35-year-old has so far made 111 appearances for the Indian national football team and looks set to make many more. He surpassed Bhaichung Bhutia’s record of 82 international matches.

Most League Goals

Chhetri now has more than 100 league goals beating the record of 90 league goals Bhaichung Butia had set during his career. According to soccerway.com, Chhetri has so far scored 120 goals in India’s domestic league – NFL, I-League an Indian Super League (ISL).

His mother was a professional footballer too but represented the Nepal national football team. But Chhetri turned out for India and what a gift to Indian football he has been. He holds many more records than just a few mentioned above.

From becoming the first Indian footballer to play in the Major League Soccer (MLS) America to turning out for Sporting Lisbon, he has most of the Indian football records to his name. Chhetri could have also been the first Indian player to play in the English Championship had his work permit not been rejected by the UK government for a fault, not his.

India’s poor ranking – India were ranked 173 in FIFA rankings then – meant the UK government rejected Chhetri’s application to play for the Queens Park Rangers. Later he could have also played for Coventry City but things did not materialise. He tuned out for Bengaluru FC in the ISL now and has been their “Captain Fantastic” leading the club to numerous title, glory and legacy status in Indian football ever since Bengaluru FC was born in 2013. Happy Birthday, legend!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 03, 2019 03:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).