Sunil Chhetri, India's football star, comes out of international retirement

Indian Football took to social media and broke the news, and much to the fans’ delight, they will be able to witness one of the biggest legends of Indian football don the iconic jersey once more. 

“Sunil Chettri is back! The captain, leader, legend will return to the Indian national team for the FIFA International Window in March,” Indian Football tweeted.

It is worth noting that Chettri announced his retirement from international football in June 2024. His last game for the country was against Kuwait in the FIFA World Cup Qualifier match. Chhetri, who sits in number 4 in the all-time international goalscorers list will be aiming to add even more goals to his tally. 

In a career which has spanned for over 19 years, Chettri has a total of 94 goals in 150 matches on the international stage, is widely revered as one of the biggest players to ever play for the Indian Football team.

Interestingly, despite having retired from international football, Chettri has continued to compete for Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League. As for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, the Indian team is drawn alongside Bangladesh, Hong Kong (China) and Singapore in its qualifying group.

They will be opening their campaign with a friendly against Maldives on March 19 before facing Bangladesh in the third round of 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. The Indian team will get a huge boost with Chettri’s presence in the squad once again. 

Back in June 2024, when the 40-year-old made the decision to retire, he came forward and talked about how he is still physically capable to perform the at the highest level, but is retiring due to the mental aspect of the game.