BENGALURU: Bengaluru FC confirmed on Tuesday that its captain and football icon Sunil Chhetri has extended his current contract with the club, ensuring that he will lead The Blues till the 2020-21 season.
Owned by the JSW Group, Bengaluru FC became a part of the Indian Super League for the first time during the previous season. Ahead of ISL 2017, Chhetri had agreed a 3-year deal with the club that runs till the 2019-2020 season.
The 33-year-old is the longest serving player at Bengaluru FC with 144 appearances across all tournaments and has been the recipient of their Top Scorer of the Year award for five consecutive seasons.
“I have always said that this club and these fans have been the most fantastic experience of my life and signing a new deal here is only a way of giving back to a club that has given so much to me. I’ve made some fantastic memories here and I believe there are many more to make,” Chhetri said of the development.
“It’s special to have Sunil Chhetri play for us. He is, by far, the fittest player around and he has proven so many times that age is just a number. We are excited to have Sunil the player, more excited to have Sunil the leader and most excited to have Sunil the enigma. His hunger, desire and passion is immense and he is the torchbearer of Indian football. For us, the club was built around Sunil and continues to do so. We hope he stays for as long as possible at BFC in the capacity of a player and beyond,” said Parth Jindal, CEO of Bengaluru FC.
Bengaluru FC are currently in pre-season training at their residential facilities in Bellary, following which they will fly out to Spain for a pre-season camp. The Blues’ first competitive match of the season kicks off in less than a month, when they take on Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr FK in a two-legged Inter-Zone semifinal of the AFC Cup, on August 22 and 29.
