Sanjeev Kumar Maria (born 2 September 1980) is a former 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 ...

who played as a defender. He played in both the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

and

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the win ...

for

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

, Fransa-Pax, and Salgaocar. He also represented

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

internationally in 2006 on five occasions.

Career

Born in

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which ...

, Maria started his career with local side AG Haryana Audit before moving to

in the

. He made a defensive error in an NFL match against Sporting Goa on 28 December 2003 which allowed the match to end 2–2. After the season ended, Maria signed with Fransa-Pax. He stayed with the Goan side for a season before returning to Mohun Bagan and staying with the side for four seasons. While with the Kolkata club, Maria also represented

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

in the

Santosh Trophy The Santosh Trophy, officially known as Hero Senior Men's National Football Championship due to sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp, is a state football leagues in India, state-level association football, football competition contested by the L ...

. He was part of the West Bengal side which were defeated in the final of the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

on 25 October 2006. Before the 2009–10 season, it was announced that Maria had signed with Salgaocar. He stayed with the Goan side for a season before ending his career with Peerless in the

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is off ...

International

Maria represented

internationally five times in 2006.

Career statistics

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria, Sanjeev 1980 births Living people Indian men's footballers Mohun Bagan Super Giant players Fransa-Pax FC players Salgaocar FC players Men's association football defenders Footballers from Chandigarh I-League players India men's international footballers Peerless SC players