Bhaichung Bhutia was the first footballing superstar to come from India and is regarded as a symbol of the rise of the sport in the country with another legend in I.M Vijayan famously calling him, “God’s gift to Indian football”.
Here, we take a look at some interesting facts and numbers of the superstar.
Bhutia travelled to Manchester to play for Bury on 30th September 1999, where he became only the second Indian football player to play professionally in Europe after Mohammad Salim.
Impressed by him, the club offered the striker a three-year contract with the player thereby becoming the first Indian footballer to sign for a European club.
While a recurring knee injury affected his time with them, he did still manage to score eight goals for the club.
The Sikkimese Sniper was among one of the 10 inaugural inductees in the Asian Football Hall of Fame in 2014, thereby becoming the first Indian footballer to be bestowed with the honour.
Bhutia joined East Bengal at the age of 16 in 1993 and since then went on to play for seven clubs during his storied career, of which three were foreign clubs.
Other than Bury, the striker also had spells with Malaysian sides, Perak F.A and Selangor MK Land.
The 45-year-old is India’s second youngest international goal scorer after Jerry Zirsanga when he scored his first goal against Uzbekistan in the 1995 Nehru Cup at the age of 18 years and 90 days.
He scored 26 international goals during his career.