Lenny Rodrigues (born 10 May 1987) 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

central 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

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 ...

club

Hyderabad FC Hyderabad Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Hyderabad, Telangana. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Founded on 27 August 2019, the club began their first professional ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Cortalim, Goa Cortalim (pronounced ) is a village in Morumugão Sub-District, Morumugão, Goa, India. Its native Goan population is entirely Catholic and their main occupations include fishing and agriculture. Located on the banks of the Zuari River, it was p ...

, began to develop a passion for football when his grandfather took him to watch local matches. He began playing for Fransa-Pax before the club folded. Rodrigues then spent a year and a half with

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 ...

before turning down a professional contract with the club to join his boyhood club,

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 ...

. While with Churchill Brothers, Rodrigues helped the club win 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 ...

twice, one Federation Cup, and one

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 ...

. Also while with Churchill Brothers, Rodrigues made the transition from playing as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

to playing as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Pune City

On 22 July 2014, Rodrigues was selected as the first ever pick in the

2014 ISL Inaugural Domestic Draft The 2014 ISL Inaugural Domestic Draft was the first ever draft from the Indian Super League, the new domestic football league in India. The draft featured eighty-four Indian domestic players. They were drafted by six out of the eight teams featur ...

Pune City Pune ( ; , ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona ( the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan plateau in Western India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Pune district, and of Pune ...

. He made his debut for the club in their first ever match against

Delhi Dynamos Odisha Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Prior to the inaugural Indian Super League season, the club was founded ...

on 14 October 2014. He started and played the whole match as it ended 0–0.

Dempo and Mohun Bagan loans

Prior to the 2014–15 season, Rodrigues was loaned out to

side,

Dempo Dempo Mining Corporation Limited is a prominent mining company from the western Indian state of Goa. The mineral business was founded by Vasantrao S. Dempo in 1941, along with his younger brother Vaikuntrao Dempo. Vasantrao was the founding c ...

. He made his debut for the club on 17 January 2015 against

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. He started and played the whole match as it ended 0–0. The next season, Rodrigues was loaned to

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, ...

. He made his debut for the club in their

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

match against

Maziya Maziya Sports and Recreation Club is a Maldivian professional football club based in Malé. They compete in the Dhivehi Premier League, the country's top division. The club was formed in 1996 and was promoted to the first division for the first ...

. He started and played 84 minutes as Mohun Bagan won 5–2.

Bengaluru loan

After the conclusion of the 2016 ISL season, Rodrigues was loaned out to another

side,

, on 15 December 2016. Rodrigues made his debut for the club on 7 January 2017 in their opening match against

Shillong Lajong Shillong Lajong Football Club (founded as Lajong SC) is an Indian professional football club based in Shillong, Meghalaya. The club is currently competing in the I-League, the second tier of the Indian football league system, following promotio ...

. Partnering with Cameron Watson, he started and played the whole match as Bengaluru won 3–0. Rodrigues then scored his first goal for the club on 5 March 2017 against

Minerva Punjab Minerva Academy Football Club (often referred to as Minerva Punjab) is an Indian professional multi-sports club based in Mohali/Chandigarh, Punjab (India), Punjab, best known for its association football, football, cricket and futsal teams. Th ...

. His 17th-minute striker was the only one in a 1–0 victory for Bengaluru.

Bengaluru

On 23 July 2017, Rodrigues was selected in the 8th round of the

2017–18 ISL Players Draft The 2017–18 ISL Players Draft was a players draft conducted by 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. Admini ...

for the 2017–18 Indian Super League season. He then made his re-debut for the side on 23 August 2017 in their

knockout match against

April 25 Events Pre-1600 * 404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion. * 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against th ...

. He started the match and scored Bengaluru's third goal in a 3–0 victory before coming off in the 89th minute. On 20 April 2018, Rodrigues earned his only trophy for the club as a permanent player when he started for Bengaluru in their 4–1 victory over

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

in the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

Goa

On 20 March 2018 it was announced that Rodrigues would move to

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

for the 2018–19 season. During the 2018–19 ISL season Lenny, along with Ahmed Jahouh formed a solid midfielding partnership for FC Goa. Lenny was one of the top five passers in the Indian Super League. He started all the league matches and Super Cup matches for FC Goa. He showed his potential of acting as a deep lying playmaker. He recorded the highest passing accuracy of nearly 85% among Indians which is very good considering Indian standard. His work rate in all matches throughout the season was impressive. He intercepted the ball, tackled, and forwarded the ball. Due to his impressive performance throughout the season, he won the award of Indian player of the season for FC Goa.

Mohun Bagan

In 2021 January transfer window he joined Mohun Bagan from FC Goa, on an 18-month contract. He made his debut against

Odisha FC Odisha Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Prior to the inaugural Indian Super League season, the club was founded ...

, which Mohun Bagan won 4–1.

Hyderabad FC

Lenny joined

for the 2024-25 season which is playing with an all-Indian squad this season.

International career

Rodrigues made his international debut for

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on 23 February 2012 against

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. He came on as a substitute as India lost 5–1.

International stats

Honours

Churchill Brothers *

: 2008–09,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

* Federation Cup: 2013–14 *

: 2009 Mohun Bagan * Federation Cup: 2015–16 Indian Super League Cup : 2022–2023 Bengaluru *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

* Federation Cup: 2016–17 *

Indian Super Cup Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

premiership: 2019–20 India *

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:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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 ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Personal life

In January 2020, he got married and lives in

References

External links

* *
Profile
at Goal.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodrigues, Lenny Indian men's footballers 21st-century Indian sportsmen 1987 births Living people Footballers from Goa I-League players Churchill Brothers FC Goa players Mohun Bagan Super Giant players Dempo SC players Indian Super League players FC Pune City players Bengaluru FC players FC Goa players India men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders People from Verna, Goa