Is a Goalkeeper Going to Be The India’s First Global Football Superstar ?

The rise of a global superstar from Indian football still feels like a fantasy. Every now and then, FIFA posts regional features on Sunil Chhetri, and Indian fans erupt in excitement—but the impact rarely travels far.

The football world itself suffers from a peculiar form of bias. A “superstar,” much like a mythical hero, is imagined only as a striker or winger—someone who will score the winner before the final whistle. Other positions barely enter the conversation.

When Sunil left for Lisbon, every Indian football lover brimmed with hope. A boy from home would make it big. He would return as a success story and create a fresh market of football viewership in India. After all, wealth, glamour, and global fame thrive where passion reaches its peak—and that peak is found only in Europe and Latin America. Elsewhere, passion exists too, but only in scattered pockets.

Sunil didn’t last long there. Nor have many other Indians been able to break into those elite spaces. But there is one position on the pitch where India has managed to shine—goalkeeping.

Just as Lev Yashin once helped the Soviet Union carve out its place on the world football map, Indian goalkeepers too have created remarkable chapters of their own.

In earlier decades, Peter Thangaraj was hailed as Asia’s finest goalkeeper. In the Olympics and Asian Games, he repeatedly proved his brilliance.

 

And this isn’t just nostalgia. Modern Indian keepers have continued that legacy. In 2014, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu signed a three-year deal with Stabaek—Norway’s top-division club. Through that move, he became the first Indian ever to play in the Europa League.

More recently, in February 2025, Bengaluru FC’s Som Kumar joined Slovenian first-division side Radomlje. Barely 20 years old, Som made his debut in July against the Croatian club Hajduk Split.

In 2014, another of India’s finest, Subrata Paul, signed with Danish club FCV Vikings.

India’s women aren’t lagging behind either. While men’s football passes through one of its darkest phases, the women’s game has dared to dream of a World Cup. In 2015, Aditi Chauhan achieved a historic milestone by joining West Ham United in the English league—becoming the first Indian to play for a first-division English club. And just last year, Panthoi Chanu joined Australian side Metro United.

All of this reflects a powerful truth: the push towards globalization in Indian football is being driven, quite admirably, by its goalkeepers.

In a world obsessed with goals, only the scorers usually earn the spotlight. After all, victory demands at least one more goal than the opponent, and that mindset has taken deep root. But the guardian who protects the net is no less important. Who knows—perhaps the first true global superstar from Indian football will be a goalkeeper.