Football ace Sunil Chhetri has been an irreplaceable treasure for the country. His contribution on the field and outside has been a quality that true leader has to possess in themselves. In his 19-year-long career, there have been many instances where THE CAPTAIN has stepped in to motivate his players and to maintain the dignity of his team. One of them was making a personal and emotional appeal to all the Indians.
It was in 2018 and 2022 when Sunil Chhetri made a heartfelt plea to the people of the country. If you think about it, it is embarrassing for us, as Indians, for a football player like Sunil Chhetri who stands in the Top 3 goal scorers across the world had to make such appeals
In 2018
“...Abuse us, criticise us but please come to watch the Indian national team play,” he’d said in a video that was posted across all his social media accounts. He shared this video after a poor attendance of 2,569 in the first match of the Intercontinental tournament.
Sunil Chhetri, the third-highest scorer of international goals among active footballers, behind only Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo, delivered the message after he scored his third international hat-trick, which helped India beat Chinese Taipei side 5-0, in front of near-empty Mumbai Football Arena (MFA) stands.
Shortly after Chhetri’s post went viral — backed by the likes of Virat Kohli and other sportspersons — 7,000 tickets for the India-Kenya game were rapidly sold out. The match against Kenya was also Chhetri’s 100th match for India in which the forward scored a brace, and lead India to win 3–0.
The tweet by the Indian Football team captain was the most retweeted tweet in 2018, as per Twitter India and was it was awarded The Golden Tweet. The tweet was as follows:
In 2022
Last year, the captain had to once again appeal to the fans to throng the stadium in large numbers during their Asian Cup Qualifiers that took place in Kolkata. Back at the football-crazy Kolkata for their Asian Cup qualifiers, Chhetri said the fans can make a "massive difference" at the 70,000-capacity Salt Lake Stadium.
He had even apologized to the fans for their match against Bangladesh that ended up in draw in 2019 at that same stadium which had an official turnout of 61,486. He promised that the Blue Tigers would make up for the disappointment last time.
"Last time, when we played here we played against Bangladesh, there were 50,000+ of you in the stadium. I cannot tell you how happy we were. We couldn't get a result as good as the support you gave. Apologies, because we didn't do well. But please come again this time. We'll try our best to put in the best effort that we can," he concluded.
One of the happiest moments witnessed this year!
Cricket has remained the dominant sport in India, often overshadowing its equally-capable counterparts. However, Indian football witnessed a legion of fans slowly, but surely, flocking to the stadiums to cheer the Blue Tigers, earnestly. As Chhetri reiterated through the years: “You guys have no idea how important you guys are and how important your support is.”
But it was on 4 July this year, when the fans truly delivered on their promise to support Indian Football. After India beat Kuwait 5-4 to bag the SAFF Championship (South Asian Football Federation Championship) 2023 title, over 25,000 fans swarming the packed Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru jumped to their feet and sang the verses of Vande Mataram in sync, the country’s national song and Maa Tujhe Salaam across the stadium grounds.
On the other hand, the team also each and every time thanked the crowd for supporting them with their unique celebration way!
Now, the Indian football team will be featuring Asian Games that will be held in Hangzhou, China 2023 in which Sunil Chhetri will be leading the team.
So let's support the team as much as we can!
