Dhanpal Ganesh (born 13 June 1994) is an Indian professional

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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Chennaiyin Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014 during the inaugural seas ...

in the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

. He has also played for the India national team.

Career

Pune

Born in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, Ganesh became the first player from the Pune Academy to sign with the first-team at

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

in July 2011. He made his professional debut for the club on 18 December 2011 against

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers Futebol Clube de Goa (simply known as Churchill Brothers) is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League, alongside the Goa Professional League (reserves). Founded in 1 ...

at the

Fatorda Stadium Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (also known as Fatorda Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Margao, Goa, India. The venue has been used to host both football and cricket matches. It is Goa's only international stadium and has a seating capac ...

; he came on in the 94th minute for Othallo Tabia as Pune won the match 2–0. He made his first start for the club in the I-League on 18 April 2012 against

Salgaocar Salgaocar Football Club (formerly Salgaocar Sporting Club) is an Indian professional football club based in Vasco, Goa. Being one of the country's most successful clubs, it is currently operating youth teams. Until the disfunction of its seni ...

in a 2–0.

Pailan Arrows (loan)

For the

2012–13 I-League The 2012–13 I-League was the sixth season of the I-League, the Indian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2007. The season began on 6 October 2012 and finished on 12 May 2013 with Churchill Brothers ...

season Ganesh was loaned out to the

Pailan Arrows Indian Arrows (formerly known as Pailan Arrows) is an Indian developmental football team that competes in the Indian national football tiers. They competed in the I-League. The club was formed by the All India Football Federation in 2010, wi ...

for the whole season. He made his debut for the Arrows on 28 August 2012 in the

Durand Cup The Durand Cup (also called the IndianOil Durand Cup Powered by Coal India Limited for sponsorship reasons) is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Annadale, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Hosted by the ...

against

Air India Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, alo ...

in which he started as Arrows drew the match 1–1. He then made his league debut for Pailan Arrows on the league opening day against

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

on 6 October 2013. He came on as an 87th-minute substitute for

Holicharan Narzary Halicharan Narzary (born 10 May 1994) is an Indian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for Indian Super League club Bengaluru FC, Bengaluru. Club career Youth career He was born in Kokrajhar, ...

as the Arrows won the match 3–2.

Return to Pune

After a season with the Arrows, Dhanpal was back at Pune for the 2013-14 season. He would make 12 appearances in the league and would feature regularly in the starting line-up in the second half of the season. He kept up his good form and made his debut in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

in a qualifier against

Hanoi T&T Hanoi Football Club (), officially named CLB Hà Nội, is a professional football club based in Hanoi, Vietnam. They play their home matches at Hang Day Stadium and compete in V.League 1, the top division in the Vietnamese football league syst ...

in a 0–3 loss. Dhanpal would score his first senior goal for Pune in the opening game of Pune's

2014 Durand Cup The 2014 Durand Cup was the 127th season of the Durand Cup, the third oldest enduring football tournament in the world, a knockout tournament contested in Goa, India, from 20 October to 8 November. Mohammedan S.C. (Kolkata), Mohammedan unsucce ...

campaign in a 3–0 win over

. He started in the first ever Pune Derby against

Bharat FC Bharat Football Club (also known as Kalyani Bharat Football Club) was an Indian professional football club based in Pune, Maharashtra. Founded in 2014, the club usually competed in I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system. The t ...

but was sent-off following off the ball challenge on the 88th minute of the game which ended 1-1.

Chennaiyin

In July 2015 Ganesh was drafted to play for

in the

2015 Indian Super League The 2015 Hero Indian Super League was the second season of the Indian Super League, a professional football league played in India since 2014. The season featured eight teams. The regular season kicked off on 3 October and ended on 6 December, ...

International

On 20 June 2012 it was confirmed that Ganesh would play for the India U23 team during

2013 AFC U-22 Asian Cup qualification The 2013 AFC U-22 Championship qualification was the qualification tournament for the inaugural edition of the AFC U-22 Asian Cup. The qualifiers took place from 23 June to 3 July 2012, but were later changed to 2–10 June for Group D, due to N ...

. He made his debut for the under-23 team on 23 June 2012 against Lebanon U23 in the 2013 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers in which India won 5–2. He made his senior debut on 17 March 2015 against

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Eugeneson Lyngdoh Eugeneson Lyngdoh (born 10 September 1986) is an Indian former footballer who last played as a midfielder for Indian Super League side East Bengal. He had also represented the India National Team. Early life Lyngdoh studied at Bishop Cotton ...

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Chennaiyin *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Champions *

: 2017-18 Champions

References

External links

Pune Football Club Profile
1994 births Living people Footballers from Chennai Indian men's footballers Pune FC players Indian Arrows players Chennaiyin FC players Men's association football midfielders I-League players India men's youth international footballers Indian Super League players 21st-century Indian sportsmen {{India-footy-midfielder-stub