Sanjeev Stalin (born 17 January 2001) 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 full back 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 Mumbai City. He has represented

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 ...

at various youth international levels including in the

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international association football, football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India from 6 to 28 Octo ...

Club career

Youth and early career

Indian Arrows

Stalin was part of the

AIFF Elite Academy The AIFF Elite Academy was the elite academy of the regional AIFF affiliated football academies. Founded on 1 February 2013, the Elite Academy started as a youth development project between the AIFF and FIFA. The Elite Academy is the final front ...

batch that was preparing for the

to be hosted in India. After the tournament, Stalin was selected to play for the

Indian Arrows Indian Arrows (formerly known as Pailan Arrows) is an Indian developmental football team that competes in the Indian national football tiers. They competed in the I-League. The club was formed by the All India Football Federation in 2010, wi ...

, an

All India Football Federation All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the governing body of football, futsal and beach soccer in India. It is a member of FIFA, and is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation. It is affiliated wit ...

-owned team that would consist of India under-20 players to give them playing time. He made his professional debut for the side in the Arrow's first match of the season against

Chennai City Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian censu ...

. He started and helped the team keep the clean sheet as Indian Arrows won 3–0.

C.D. Aves

On 11 February 2020, Stalin signed a two-year deal at Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club C.D. Aves, where played for the club's U-19 and U-23 squads.

Sertanense

On 24 August 2020, Stalin joined Portuguese third division club Sertanense for the 2020–21 season.

Kerala Blasters

On 18 March 2021,

club

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

announced the signing of Stalin on a 3-year deal. He made his debut for the club in the

2021 Durand Cup The 2021 Durand Cup was the 130th edition of Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament in Asia. Like its 2019 Durand Cup, previous edition, the tournament was hosted in West Bengal. The tournament is jointly hosted by the Eastern Command (Indi ...

match against arch-rivals

Bengaluru FC Bengaluru Football Club () (Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು.ಎಫ್.ಸಿ) is an Indian professional football club based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club w ...

on 15 September, which they lost 2–0. Stalin made his

debut in the match against

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 ...

on 9 January 2022 as substitute for injured

Jessel Carneiro Jessel Allan Carneiro (born 14 July 1990) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League. Club career Youth career Jessel was born in Curtorim, a town in South Goa, India. He began h ...

, which the Blasters won 1–0. On 26 February, in the match against their southern rivals

Chennaiyin FC Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014 during the inaugural sea ...

, he was awarded with the man of the match award for his performance, as the Blasters won 3–0 at full-time.

Mumbai City FC

On 14 July 2022,

Mumbai City FC Mumbai City Football Club is an Indian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is part of the City Football Group. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of the Ind ...

announced the signing of Stalin on a four-year contract for an undisclosed transfer fee. He made his debut away against

, coming on as a 76th minute substitute for Mandar Rao Dessai in a 3-3 draw.

International career

Stalin represented the India under-17 side which participated in the

which was hosted in India. On 9 October 2017, he assisted

Jeakson Singh Jeakson Singh Thounaojam (born 21 June 2001) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Indian Super League club East Bengal and the India national team. Club career Youth and early career: 2012–2018 Born ...

to score India's first ever goal in a FIFA tournament against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. He was also a part of the India under-20 team and made appearances for the side.

Personal life

Sanjeev Stalin was born to his father, Stalin and mother Parameshwari, in

Bangalore 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 ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. His parents run a small garment shop and his mother is a

Burmese Indian Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian origin who live in Myanmar (Burma). The term 'Burmese Indian' refers to a broad range of people from South Asia, most notably from present-day countries such as India and Bangladesh. While Indians ...

who emigrated back to India to help her nephew. At the age of 10 Stalin was spotted by Indo-Iranian coach

Jamshid Nassiri Jamshid Yeganeh Nassiri (born 23 February 1959 in Khorramshahr) is an Iranian-Indian football manager and former footballer, who is currently the head coach of the Calcutta Premier Division side Calcutta FC. Nassiri is known for forming a success ...

who recommended that he should join a football academy.

Career statistics

Honours

Mumbai City * 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stalin, Sanjeev 2001 births Living people Footballers from Bengaluru Indian men's footballers India men's youth international footballers Indian people of Burmese descent Men's association football defenders AIFF Elite Academy players Indian Arrows players C.D. Aves players Sertanense F.C. players I-League players Indian expatriate men's footballers Indian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Kerala Blasters FC players Kerala Blasters FC Reserves and Academy players Mumbai City FC players Indian Super League players 21st-century Indian sportsmen