Indian football’s biggest star Sunil Chhetri retired in Kolkata in June 2024 after the match against Qatar. After his illustrious international career of 19 years, the biggest question in Indian football was – “Who next for Sunil Chhetri?” Chhetri is the third highest active goal scorer in international football after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Finding a replacement for such a great player was never going to be easy. And that is what happened. In the last nine months, no player has emerged in Indian football who can replace him. In such a situation, Chhetri returned from retirement on March 6. The question was who after Sunil Chhetri, the answer is – Sunil Chhetri himself.
Coach Marquez said, “The team needs to win right now and Chhetri is India’s best striker right now, there’s no doubt about it.” India will play a friendly match against Maldives on March 19. After this, Team India will face Bangladesh in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. On the request of Indian team coach Manolo Marquez, 40-year-old Chhetri will play for the team in this international window of March. He will return to the field after 286 days of retirement.
India did not win any football match in the entire year 2024. The team lost six out of 11 matches and drew five. In these matches, the team conceded 15 goals and scored only four.