List of international goals scored by Sunil Chhetri

Chhetri has scored 94 international goals for India

Sunil Chhetri is an Indian professional footballer who represented the India national football team as a forward between 2005 to 2024. He is the country's all-time top goal scorer and most-capped player.[1][2][3] He has scored 94 goals in 151[a] official international appearances since his debut on 12 June 2005 against Pakistan.[b][12][13][14]

On 9 December 2011, Chhetri netted twice in a match (also known as a brace) in India's 3–1 semi-final win over the Maldives in the 2011 SAFF Championship to take his tally to 31,[15] thus becoming his country's all-time leading goalscorer surpassing the 29 set by I. M. Vijayan.[1][16] With his 94 international goals, he is currently the third-highest international goalscorer among active players, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Lionel Messi of Argentina. He is also the highest active goalscorer from Asia. On 21 June 2023, Chhetri scored a hat-trick for India in a 4–0 win over the Pakistan to take his tally to 90 international goals, thus becoming the second-highest international goalscorer from Asia of all time.[17] His tally of 94 puts him the fourth-highest goalscorer in the history of international football.[18]

Chhetri at 2019 AFC Asian Cup
Chhetri (left) celebrating a goal with his teammate Anirudh Thapa in a 2019 AFC Asian Cup group match against Thailand

Chhetri scored his first ever international goal during his first ever international appearance on 12 June 2005 against Pakistan.[14] Chhetri's first international tournament for India was the 2007 Nehru Cup where he scored four goals in total: two against Cambodia, one against Syria, and one against Kyrgyzstan, which helped India to win their first Nehru Cup title.[19][20] Chhetri's 50th goal came during his 88th match in a 3–2 victory against the Maldives in the 2015 SAFF Championship semi-final on 31 December 2015.[21] He is the only Indian footballer to have scored 50 or more international goals. Between all of his 94 goals: 23 came in SAFF Championship matches, 18 came in friendlies, 13 came in Intercontinental Cup, 10 in FIFA World Cup qualifiers, 9 in the Nehru Cup, 8 in AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, 4 in AFC Asian Cup finals, 1 each in the King's Cup and the Merdeka Tournament, and the rest have come in the AFC Challenge Cup finals and its qualifiers.[12] Chhetri has scored four international hat-tricks, the most by any Indian and has scored braces on sixteen occasions.[1][12] He has scored nine times against Nepal, the most against a team. He has also scored eleven international goals at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, his most at a single ground. He has scored 16 out of his 94 goals from penalty kicks.

  1. ^ a b c Dey, Subrata. "India – Record international players". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  2. ^ Mamrud, Roberto; Stokkermans, Karel. "Players with 100+ caps and 30+ international goals". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  3. ^ "S. Chhetri". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Sunil Chhetri details at National Football Teams.com". Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Asian Nations Cup 2007 - Qualifying - Match Details". Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  6. ^ Chaudhuri, Arunava. "The Indian U20 team at the 2004 Islamabad SAF Games". Indianfootball.de. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  7. ^ Courtney, Barrie; Riaz, Malik. "9th South Asian Federation Games 2004 (Pakistan)". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Watch: Sunil Chhetri rescues Stimac's men with late strike as India revive Asian Games campaign with win over Bangladesh". Hindustan Times. 21 September 2023. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  9. ^ "Asian Games 2023: Sunil Chhetri penalty guides men's football team to R16 as India draw Myanmar 1-1". India Today. 24 September 2022. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Laws of the Game" (PDF). FIFA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 June 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference IND INT matches rsssf was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b c Mamrud, Roberto. "Sunil Chhetri – Century of International Appearances". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Pakistan hold India in first football match". Rediff. 12 June 2005. Archived from the original on 12 August 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  14. ^ a b "Asian Icons: Sunil Chhetri". AFC. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  15. ^ Ghosal, Amoy. "Flashback: SAFF Championship 2011". Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  16. ^ Dey, Subrata. "I M Vijayan-goals in international matches". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference chhetrihattrick4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Murmud, Roberto; Stokkermans, Karel. "International goals-players with 30 or more goals". Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  19. ^ "India outplay Cambodia 6–0 in Nehru Cup opener". Reuters. 17 August 2007. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference nehru cup title was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Mitul, Manas (1 January 2016). "SAFF Cup: Jeje's brace helps India edge past Maldives, enter final". First Post. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.


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