Picture courtesy: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
Picture courtesy: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
Indian national team goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu has become the first Indian to play an official match for a top tier club in Europe.
The 23 year old goalkeeper from Punjab played for his Norwegian Tippeligaen side Stabæk Fotball in the Norwegian Football Cup against 4th Division side Runar IL and kept a clean sheet in a 6-0 win on Wednesday.
Gurpreet had made his debut for the senior team in a friendly match on January 17, 2015 against Follo FK, but he had to wait until Wednesday to play his first official match for the club.
“Happy to get a clean sheet on my debut for Stabæk tonight – thanks coach (Bob Bradley),” Gurpreet stated via Facebook.
“Thank you god for yesterday and thank you everyone for the tremendous response and support you have been giving since I have been here! Love u all,” he added.
Gurpreet is the fifth Indian player to play professionally in Europe after Mohammed Salim (Celtic FC), Baichung Bhutia (Bury FC), Sunil Chhetri (Sporting Clube de Portugal B) and Subrata Pal (FC Vestsjælland).
Congratulations Gurpreet!