Legendary Indian football player Sunil Chhetri has declared his retirement from the game. On June 6, he will play his final game in Kolkata against Kuwait.
The captain of the Indian football team posted a video on social media that explained his choice.
In the video, Chhetri is heard sayin: “There is one day that I never forget and remember it quite often is the first time I played for my country man, it was unbelievable. But the day before, morning of the day, Sukhi sir, my first national team coach, in the morning he came to me and he’s like, you’re going to start? I can’t tell you how I was feeling man. I took my jersey, I sprayed some perfume on it, I have no idea why. So that day, everything that happened, once he told me, from breakfast to lunch and to the game and to my first goal in my debut, to conceding late 80th minute, that day is probably that I will never forget and is one of the best days of my national team journey.”
“You know the feeling that I recollect in the last 19 years is a very nice combination between duty pressure and immense joy. I never thought individually, these are the many games that I’ve played for the country, this is what I’ve done, good or bad, but now I did it. This last one and a half, two months, I did it and it was very strange. I did it because probably I was going towards the decision that this game, this next game is going to be my last,” he further added.
With the comment, “I’d like to say something,” he posted the video. Notably, throughout the course of a 20-year career, the legendary football player has represented India in 145 games and scored 93 goals.