Abhishek Ambekar (born 11 August 1991) is an Indian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

club

Sreenidi Deccan Sreenidi Deccan Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Hyderabad, Telangana. It was established on 1 January 2015 as a football academy in Hyderabad, and later was launched from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh in 2021. The ...

Career

Early career

He began playing football in school, Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School,

Thane Thane (; previously known as Thana, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city located on the northwestern side of the list of Indian states, state of Maharashtra in India and on ...

and represented his school team and his college and state team later. He was roped into the

Air India FC Air India Football Club is a football section of the same-named Indian institutional multi-sports club. Founded by Anand Prajapati in 1952, the club is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Sponsored by Air India, the club previously played in the Mu ...

under-19 team, coached by former Indian player Godfrey Pereira, who is also from Santacruz.

Air India

The winger eventually graduated to Air India's senior team. Ambekar made his debut for

of the

on 7 October 2012 coming on as a 54th-minute substitute for Ong Lepcha; Air India lost 5–1.

Career pitfalls

couldn't play in the

further as it didn't satisfy the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

norms, according to the

All India Football Federation All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the governing body of football, futsal and beach soccer in India. It is a member of FIFA, and is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation. It is affiliated wit ...

. But this didn't hinder Ambekar's career as he joined the newly-floated Mumbai Tigers, which had players like

Steven Dias Steven Benedic Dias (born 25 December 1983) is an Indian former professional footballer who is currently the head coach of Jamshedpur B. An attacking midfielder who played on the wings, he was known for his long range shooting, crosses and pas ...

, Paresh Shivalkar under coach

Bimal Ghosh Bimal Ghosh (born 29 June 1956) is an Indian former footballer and football manager, most notable for his 18-year tenure as the Head Coach of Air India Football Club in Mumbai. He is a recipient of the Dronacharya Award, which is given to tho ...

, who helped Ambekar improve his game. But the club also couldn't survive for long. He joined

Mumbai FC Mumbai Football Club was an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The club predominantly competed in I-League, then top flight of Indian football league system. Mumbai also participated in MDFA Elite League. The club ...

and later got a job with the

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

. The job rules didn't allow him to play at the professional level but he preferred RBI as it offered job security. During that time he played for Maharashtra in

Santosh Trophy The National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, or simply Santosh Trophy, is an inter-state national football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF), th ...

. Later Ambekar was handed a lifeline by RBI, who agreed to release players and encouraged sportspersons to continue playing. It was what he had been waiting for. At the cost of risking his progress at work, Ambekar started sniffing at opportunities to play in the big leagues again. That chance came at fledgling side

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

, who had finished 9th of 10 teams on their

debut last season.

Minerva Punjab

In 2017 he joined Minerva Punjab. He made his debut for Minerva on 25 November 2017 in

match against

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Super Giant, commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, ...

Guru Nanak Stadium Guru Nanak Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Ludhiana, India. It hosts football matches and athletic competitions. It is used as one of the home grounds of the Indian Super League team Punjab FC. With seating capacity of 30,000 spectators. ...

Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...

as he played full match and his team drew the match 1-1. He became an inevitable ingredient of the side which eventually won the silverware. The

title triumph gave Ambekar's CV a necessary kick which was missing earlier in his career.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

;Minerva Punjab *

: 2017–18 ;

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by the Indian Football Association (WB) as part of the state leagues. It is the oldest football league in Asia. The CFL ...

(1): 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambekar, Abhishek Indian men's footballers 1991 births Living people Footballers from Mumbai I-League players 21st-century Indian sportsmen East Bengal Club players Men's association football fullbacks Minerva Academy FC players Mumbai Tigers FC players Mumbai FC players Mohun Bagan Super Giant players Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) players Rajasthan United FC players Sudeva Delhi FC players