Sunil Chhetri, captain of the Indian men’s football team, became the fifth highest scoring player in the history of international football.
Chhetri achieved this feat in his AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong on Tuesday, where he scored his 84th goal. He is now on par with Real Madrid and Hungarian Ferenc Puskas at international level.
Earlier, in October 2021, Chhetri had surpassed the great footballer Pelचा’s record of 77 goals. He is now the third most active international goal scorer behind Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
Currently, Ronaldo is the highest scoring player in international football with 117 goals, while Messi is in fourth place with a total of 86 goals.
In the match against Hong Kong, India completed their AFC Asian Cup Qualifier 2023 campaign style at the VYBK Stadium in Kolkata as they beat Hong Kong 4-0 in the Group D final. Anwar Ali, Sunil Chhetri, Manveer Singh and Ishan Pandita scored for the Blue Tigers.
This was Team India’s third consecutive victory in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. Earlier, they had defeated Cambodia and Afghanistan.