Raju Eknath Gaikwad (born 25 September 1990) 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 defender for

I-League 3 The I-League 3 is an Indian men's professional football league. It forms the fourth tier of the Indian football league system, below the I-League 2 and above the State leagues. History For the first time, the AIFF introduced qualifiers for ...

club Diamond Harbour FC. Gaikwad primarily plays as a

centre 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 ...

, but can also play as a full back and is a long throw specialist.

Career

Pailan Arrows

After spending time at

Tata Football Academy Tata Football Academy (Tata FA or TFA) is a Association football, football academy based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, sponsored by Tata Steel, which owns Indian Super League, ISL outfit Jamshedpur FC. It is one of the renowned and leading football ...

Gaikwad signed for Pailan Arrows (then AIFF XI) in 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 made his league debut for the club on 3 December 2010 against Prayag United at the

Salt Lake Stadium The Salt Lake Stadium, officially known as Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), is a multi-purpose stadium, used mostly for football matches, located in Salt Lake City, Greater Kolkata, with a capacity of 68,000 spectators. Named after S ...

which was also Pailan Arrows's first ever game in the I-League; Pailan lost 2–1.

East Bengal

In July 2011 Gaikwad signed for

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 ...

after one season at Pailan and made his debut for the club on 4 February 2012 after missing the first few months of the season through injury.

Mohun Bagan A.C.

In June 2015 Gaikwad signed for

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, ...

from rival club

Kerala Blasters

Kerala Blasters signed Raju as a replacement for

Sandesh Jhingan Sandesh Jhingan (born 21 July 1993) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Indian Super League club Goa and the Indian national team. He won the AIFF emerging player of the year award in 2014 and made his debut f ...

in the 2019–20 ISL season.

International

Gaikwad made his debut for the India U23 on 23 February 2011 against Myanmar's U23s in the 2012 Olympic Qualifiers; India U23 won 2–1. He then made his senior 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 21 March 2011 in the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers against Chinese Tapei at the

MBPJ Stadium The Petaling Jaya Stadium, also known as the MBPJ Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Kelana Jaya in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The stadium was opened in 1996 and had a capacity of 25,000. It was built in time for the 19 ...

Petaling Jaya Petaling Jaya (), colloquially referred to as "PJ", is a city in Petaling District, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Originally developed as a Satellite city, satellite township for Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, it is part of the G ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

; India won 3–0. Gaikwad then won his first championship with India on 11 December 2011 when he helped India beat

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

in the 2011 SAFF Cup. Gaikwad then went on to lead India to win the

2012 Nehru Cup The 2012 Nehru Cup was the 15th edition of the Nehru Cup and 3rd Nehru Cup since it was revived in 2007. It was held from 22 August to 2 September. The tournament was hosted in New Delhi, India. A total of 5 teams participated in the tournament ...

when India managed to beat Cameroon's B team on 2 September 2012 at the Nehru Stadium in the Indian capital,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Career statistics

Club

National team statistics

''Statistics accurate as of 6 May 2015''

Honours

Tata Football Academy *

I-League U19 The Youth League is a system of youth association football, football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the All India Football Federation. It consists of 3 age groups competitions: U17 (AIFF Youth League), U15 (Junior League) ...

: 2008 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 ...

East Bengal * Federation Cup:

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by the Indian Football Association (WB) as part of the state leagues. It is the oldest football league in Asia. The CFL ...

: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 *

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is a football competition organized by the Indian Football Association, the football governing body in the Indian state of West Bengal. The IFA came into existence in 1893, and was named after the association. The IFA Shield to ...

(1):

Mohun Bagan * Federation Cup: 2015–16 Churchill Brothers *Baji Rout Cup runner-up: 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaikwad, Raju 1990 births Living people Indian men's footballers I-League players Footballers from Mumbai India men's international footballers India men's youth international footballers Indian Arrows players East Bengal Club players Mumbai City FC players Indian Super League players 21st-century Indian sportsmen Men's association football central defenders Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for India Kerala Blasters FC players FC Goa players Mohun Bagan Super Giant players Jamshedpur FC players Delhi FC players