Vinit Rai
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Vinit Rai Chamling | ||
| Date of birth | 10 October 1997 | ||
| Place of birth | Duliajan, Assam, India | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||
| Positions | |||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Punjab | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2010–2014 | Tata Football Academy | ||
| 2014 | Dempo | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2014–2016 | Dempo | 2 | (0) |
| 2016–2017 | Kerala Blasters | 2 | (0) |
| 2017 | → Minerva Punjab (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2017–2023 | Odisha | 68 | (1) |
| 2021–2023 | → Mumbai City (loan) | 20 | (2) |
| 2023–2024 | Mumbai City | 15 | (0) |
| 2024– | Punjab | 0 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2015–2019 | India U23 | 7 | (0) |
| 2018– | India | 11 | (0) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 17:48, 4 May 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 21:10, 19 November 2019 (UTC) | |||
Vinit Rai Chamling (born 10 November 1997) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Indian Super League club Punjab and the India national team.
Club career
[edit]Born in Duliajan, Assam, Rai was scouted by the Duliajan Football Academy and later by the Tata Football Academy at the age of 13 and trained there for four years.[2] After graduating from Tata, Rai signed with I-League side Dempo. On signing Rai, Dempo head coach at the time, Arthur Papas said "Vinit is a very cultured midfielder with a great range of passing. He has a willingness to always want the ball and link the play between the defensive and forward lines."[3] Rai would enter the 2014–15 season with Dempo as the youngest first-team player.[3] After spending a majority of the season playing for the club's youth team, Rai made his professional debut for Dempo in the league on 1 March 2015 against East Bengal. He came on as an 81st-minute substitute for Jewel Raja as Dempo lost 5–1.[4]
Kerala Blasters
[edit]After helping Dempo regain promotion to the I-League, Rai signed with Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters on 6 September 2016.[2] He made his debut for the team on 1 October 2016 against NorthEast United. He started the match and played 76 minutes as Kerala Blasters fell 1–0.[5]
Minerva Punjab
[edit]After the ISL 2016 season, Vinit Rai signed with Minerva FC and will make its debut in I-league this season.[6]
Odisha FC
[edit]Rai joined Odisha FC for the 2019–20 ISL season as a midfielder.[7] He also captained the team.
Loan to Mumbai City
[edit]In 2022, Rai was loaned out to Indian Super League defending champions Mumbai City from Odisha. He was later included in club's 2022 AFC Champions League squad.[8]
International
[edit]Rai made his debut for the India under-23 side on 27 March 2015 against Uzbekistan U23 in the 2016 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. He played 80 minutes as India U23 fell 2–0.[9] Almost a year later, Rai made his debut on the bench for the India senior side in their FIFA World Cup qualifier against Iran. He did not come off the bench though.[10] Rai, however, did make his unofficial debut for India in the team's unofficial friendly against Bhutan. He came on as a 64th minute for Rowllin Borges as India won 3–0.[11]
Career statistics
[edit]Club
[edit]- As of 4 May 2024[12]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | AFC | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Dempo | 2014–15 | I-League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |
| Kerala Blasters | 2016 | Indian Super League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |
| Minerva Punjab (loan) | 2016–17 | I-League | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | |
| Odisha | 2017–18 | Indian Super League | 13 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | — | 14 | 0 | |
| 2018–19 | 16 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | — | 17 | 0 | |||
| 2019–20 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 15 | 1 | |||
| 2020–21 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 16 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 8 | 0 | |||
| Total | 68 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 1 | ||
| Mumbai City (loan) | 2021–22 | Indian Super League | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5[b] | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 2022–23 | 11 | 2 | 8[c][a] | 0 | — | 19 | 2 | |||
| Mumbai City | 2023–24 | Indian Super League | 15 | 0 | 6[c][a] | 0 | 4[b] | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Total | 35 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 58 | 2 | ||
| Punjab | 2024–25 | Indian Super League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| Career total | 111 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 136 | 3 | ||
International
[edit]| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | 2018 | 6 | 0 |
| 2019 | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 11 | 0 | |
Honours
[edit]Mumbai City
- Indian Super League (Premiership): 2022–23
- Durand Cup runner-up: 2022[14]
India
- SAFF Championship runner-up: 2018
- King's Cup third place: 2019
India U23
- South Asian Games Silver medal: 2016
References
[edit]- ↑ "Vinit Rai profile - Goals, Passes and more". Indian Super League. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- 1 2 "Kerala Blasters sign Vinit Rai". Arunfoot. 6 September 2016. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
- 1 2 "Young Players to watch out for in Dempo". The All India Football Federation. 12 August 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
- ↑ "Dempo 1-5 East Bengal". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ↑ "NorthEast United 1-0 Kerala Blasters". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 12 November 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ↑ "Vinit Rai to play is trade for Minerva FC". Goalie365. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ↑ "Vinit Rai-profile". indiansuperleague.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- ↑ Guha, Sayantan (6 April 2022). "All you need to know about Mumbai City FC's AFC Champions League 2022 campaign". sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 6 April 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
- ↑ "Uzbekistan U23 2-0 India U23". The Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
- ↑ "Iran 4-0 India". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ↑ "Bhutan 0-3 India". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- 1 2 Vinit Rai at Soccerway
- ↑ Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "NFT player — National team & Club appearances: Rai, Vinit". national-football-teams.com. National Football Teams. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
- ↑ Narayan, Aaditya (19 September 2022). "Durand Cup 2022 review: The perfect curtain-raiser to the Indian football season". www.espn.in. Kolkata: ESPN. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
External links
[edit]- Indian Super League Profile Archived 31 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- 1997 births
- Living people
- People from Dibrugarh district
- Footballers from Assam
- Indian Gorkhas
- Indian men's footballers
- Dempo SC players
- Kerala Blasters FC players
- Minerva Academy FC players
- Punjab FC players
- Men's association football midfielders
- I-League players
- I-League 2 players
- Indian Super League players
- 21st-century Indian sportsmen
- India men's youth international footballers
- 2019 AFC Asian Cup players
- India men's international footballers
- Odisha FC players
- Mumbai City FC players
- South Asian Games silver medalists for India
- South Asian Games medalists in football