Abhishek Yadav (born 10 June 1980) is a former professional footballer who captained the Indian national team. Additionally, he served as Deputy General Secretary of 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 ...

(AIFF).

Club career

During his youth, Yadav played for local team Rashtriya Chemical Fertilizers (RCF) in the 1998–99 season. After finding success at RCF, Yadav began his professional career at

Mahindra United Mahindra United Football Club (formerly known as Mahindra & Mahindra) was an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 1962, the club competed in the I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system, bef ...

. For the 2000–2001 season, Yadav signed with Churchill Brothers, but returned to Mumbai to play for

after just a season. Yadav then spent five seasons with

where he won all of the major Indian trophies - Durand Cup, IFA Shield, National Football League (the I-League replaced the NFL), Federation Cup and Mumbai League. In 2007, Abhishek joined Mumbai FC. After joining the newly founded club owned by the

Essel Group Essel Group (also known as Zee Group) is an Indian media conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai, India. The group has had business interests in mass media, infrastructure and packaging. Founded in 1926 as the Messrs Ramgopal Indraprasad by Jagan ...

, Yadav said the move was a "calculated risk" but cited David Booth and Henry Menezes as reasons for joining. The "calculated risk" paid off in 2008, when he helped the team win the

I-League 2nd Division The I-League 2 is an Indian men's professional association football, football league. It is the 3rd tier of the Indian football league system, behind the Indian Super League and the I-League. It operates as a system of promotion and relegation ...

, thereby allowing the team to be promoted to the 1st Division of the

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 ...

. He now captains the side and leads from the front, scoring 9 goals for the season and is the top scorer for the club.

International career

Yadav has played on the India national squad since 2002. At his debut, Yadav came off the substitutes bench and scored the winning goal in the LG Cup final against

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. This was the first trophy India had won abroad in 28 years. He captained team India for the third international football friendly match conducted in the year 2010. He brought significant challenges for the opposition on several occasions and helped India defeat much better ranked Namibia by 2–0.

Honours

India * AFC Challenge Cup:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

SAFF Championship The SAFF Championship (erstwhile SAARC Gold Cup and SAFF Gold Cup), is the primary association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the South Asian Football Fede ...

runner-up:

; third place:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to 2006. After ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

India U23 * LG Cup: 2002

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yadav, Abhishek Indian men's footballers India men's international footballers India men's youth international footballers 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Kanpur Footballers from Uttar Pradesh Mumbai FC players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players I-League players Churchill Brothers FC Goa players Mahindra United FC players Mumbai City FC players Indian Super League players 21st-century Indian sportsmen Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for India