Junior Narendra Rao (born 27 June 1995) is a Fijian

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 Ba in the Fiji National Football League. Rao was educated at FSC Primary School and Ba Sangam College.

Career

Rao started playing football when he was in secondary school. He joined Ba when he was 14 years old and he made his debut in 2012 when he was 16 years old.

International career

Rao made his debut in the Fiji jersey at the

2011 OFC U-17 Championship The 2011 OFC U-17 Championship, was the OFC Under 17 Qualifying Tournament, the biennial football championship of Oceania ( OFC). It was the 14th edition of the tournament and was held in Albany, North Shore City, New Zealand from 8 to 19 Janu ...

. This tournament was unsuccessful for Fiji as they managed to win only one time, a 9–0 victory against

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

. Rao managed to score two goals himself. After the U17's Rao went on to play with U20's, something that turned out to be a little bit more successful. In 2013 they only managed a second spot, however at the 2014 OFC U-20 Championship they reached the first place. This meant that they had qualified for the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

. It was the first time that Fiji had qualified for a FIFA event. Rao played all games at the U20 World Cup, including in Fiji's historical 3–0 victory against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. In August 2017 he was called up for the Fijian national football team for two friendly matches in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. He made his debut on September 2, 2017 in a 0-0 draw against the

Indonesia national football team The Indonesia national football team () represents Indonesia in international men's Association football, football matches since 1945. The men's national team is controlled by the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI), the governing body fo ...

. In July 2019 he was one of three players suspended for failing to turn up to the training camp to prepare for the

2019 Pacific Games The 16th Pacific Games (), also known as Apia 2019, were held from 7 to 20 July 2019. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The ...

References

External links

* * Living people 1995 births Men's association football midfielders Fiji men's international footballers Fijian men's footballers Ba FA players Fijian people of Indian descent Sportspeople of Indian descent {{Fiji-footy-bio-stub