Sunil Chhetri to Lead Indian Football Team at Asian Games 2023 – REPORT

Delhi: Amid much speculation over Sunil Chhetri’s availability for the upcoming Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, AIFF and FSDL have reached an agreement and convinced the star footballer to lead the country at the competition. A RevSports report also suggests that the Indian football team for the Asian Games, could be announced soon. This news will bring a lot of relief to fans across the country that Chhetri, India’s leading goal-scorer ever, would be leading the side at the prestigious event. Also, amid all the speculations that are doing the rounds, it is believed that coach Igor Stimac would be travelling with the team to Hangzhou.

Sunil Chhetri, India’s highest-ever goalscorer, Sandesh Jhingan and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu – the senior players of the squad – are set to miss the Hangzhou Games as their clubs are reluctant to forego their services for the first few games of the ISL, which is starting from September 21.

The Blue Tigers play host China, Myanmar and Bangladesh in the Asian Games on September 19, 21 and 24, respectively. The clubs are not obligated to release players for the competition as it falls outside the mandated FIFA international window.

Target or honest fighter for the betterment of Indian football?

The time is coming to put all cards on the table and see how much and who really cares about football in this country.

Give it a thought before making up your judgment and thanks once again for your support. pic.twitter.com/SfCaargLlz

— Igor Štimac (@stimac_igor) September 12, 2023

“No clubs are mandated to release players outside the FIFA window. Some of our players have spent nearly 90 days outside the FIFA windows and now they (AIFF) are expecting a longer time, in the middle of the season,” an ISL club official told Sportstar on the condition of anonymity.

Indian Squad for Asian Games 2023: Sunil Chhetri (C), Gurmeet Singh, Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem, Sumit Rathi, Narender Gahlot, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Samuel James, Rahul KP, Abdul Rabeeh Anjukandan, Ayush Dev Chhetri, Bryce Miranda, Azfar Noorani, Rahim Ali, Vincy Bareto, Rohit Danu, Gurkirat Singh, Aniket Jadhav.