Mandar Rao Dessai (born 18 March 1992) is an

Indian 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 ...

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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

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 Chennaiyin.

Career

Dempo

Desai made his professional debut for

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 ...

in the 2013-14 I-League on 22 September 2013 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 ...

at the

Duler Stadium Duler Stadium, officially Duler Football Stadium, is a football stadium in Mapusa, Goa, India. Dempo, Salgaocar, and Sporting Goa were the most notable venue users. It also serves as home ground for other Goa Professional League clubs. Histo ...

and played the match till 55th minute before he was replaced by

Jeje Lalpekhlua Jeje Lalpekhlua Fanai (born 7 January 1991), simply known as Jeje, is an Indian politician and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. On 27 March 2023, he formall ...

as his team lost the match 0–3.

Goa (loan)

Mandar represented

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 ...

in the

2014 Indian Super League The 2014 Hero Indian Super League was the first season of the Indian Super League, the top flight football league of India. The season featured eight teams, each playing 14 matches during the regular season. The regular season started on 12 Oc ...

, on loan from Dempo, and was a regular for his team on the left wing.

Return to Dempo

After the 2014 ISL, Mandar returned to his senior club and started the new season in the 2014-15 Indian Federation Cup, where he played in 5 of his teams' cup-winning campaign, assisting Tolgay Ozbey once in a group game. While he was regular for

during the 2014-15 I-League, he could not prevent his team from getting relegated. He made 14 appearances, with only 5 starts in the league.

Goa (loan)

Mandar was retained by

for 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, ...

with Zico impressed by him from the 2014 season. He started and scored in the first game of the season against

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), often known as Roberto Carlos and sometimes ''RC3'', is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer. He has been described as the "most offensive-minded left-back in the ...

lead northern outfit Delhi Dynamos from a Romeo Fernandes assist as his team won 2–0. He scored again in a round 4 game away at

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

against

NorthEast United NorthEast United Football Club is an Indian professional Association football, football club based in Guwahati, Assam that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Football in India, Indian football. The club was founded on ...

after coming on as a substitute, from a swift counterattack, showing his impressive pace. Mandar then turned in his first assist of the season at home against

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in India. The club was esta ...

from a corner, assisting Gregory Arnolin with a goal that turned out be the winner. He won Hero of the Match awards for his performances against Delhi Dynamos and

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 ...

. Mandar scored his 3rd goal of the season against

in a 1–5 win at Kochi on 29 November 2015, where he also assisted Reinaldo for the 3rd goal.

Return to Dempo

After contractual problems, Mandar returned to play for Dempo, where he had a contract until the end of the 2015–16 season where he helped his team win promotion back to the I-League.

Goa

Desai signed a permanent deal with

from the

2016 Indian Super League season The 2016 Indian Super League season was the third season of the Indian Super League, the football league, since its establishment in 2013. The season featured eight teams again, each playing 14 matches during the regular season before the final ...

. He later went to Spain for a short training cum trial stint with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

Mumbai City

In 2020, Dessai moved to Mumbai City and emerged champions of the 2020–21 season. He was later included in club's

2022 AFC Champions League The 2022 AFC Champions League was the 41st edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 20th under the current AFC Champions League title. This edition was the last in an all-y ...

squad.

International

Mandar captained Goa-India during the

2014 Lusophony Games The 2014 Lusofonia Games was the 3rd edition of the Lusofonia Games, a multi-sport event held between athletes from Portuguese-speaking countries and territories. It was held from 18 to 29 January 2014 in the Indian state of Goa. Brazil and Sri L ...

where he made 4 appearances and scored once, as he led his team to the gold medal, beating the under-20 team of

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

in the final. Mandar made his India U23 debut in the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games (), officially known as the 17th Asian Games () and also known as Incheon 2014 (), were a pan-Asian multi-sport event held from 19 September to 4 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. On 17 April 2007, Incheon was awarded ...

against UAE U23.

Personal life

Mandar was in a relationship with Danish footballer Cecilie Bjørnstrup Andersen, from 2018 until their separation in 2021. They have a daughter namely Aya and son called Adrian.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dempo *

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 ...

: 2015–16 Goa * ISL League Winners Shield: 2019–20 *

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 ...

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 ...

Mumbai City *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

* ISL League Winners Shield:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

East Bengal * Super Cup:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* Durand Cup Runner Up:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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 ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

India U20 (Goa India) *

Lusofonia Games The Lusofonia Games () was a multinational multi-sport event organized by the ACOLOP, which involves athletes coming from Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) countries. Most countries competing are members of the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Lan ...

Gold medal:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Goa-India win the Lusofonia Games football tournament
''blog.cpdfootball.de''. Retrieved 7 September 2021

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Mandar Rao 1992 births Living people People from Mapusa Sportspeople from North Goa district Indian men's footballers 21st-century Indian sportsmen India men's international footballers India men's youth international footballers Dempo SC players Footballers from Goa I-League players Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Men's association football wingers Bengaluru FC players Indian Super League players FC Goa players Mumbai City FC players Asian Games footballers for India