Sunil Chhetri a little jealous of India’s chance at Brazil, urges football unity

Sunil Chhetri admits he will be watching India’s upcoming clash with Brazil with a hint of jealousy. The former Indian captain never got a chance to play against one of the biggest teams in football during his international career. The current generation will get that opportunity when India face five-time world champions Brazil in Kolkata on 3 October, followed by a match against Uruguay three days later.

“I feel a bit jealous as a spectator. In my 24-26 years as a professional and almost 20 years with the national team, I never got this opportunity,” Chhetri said on the sidelines of the Indian Football Association’s 2026 Indian Football Awards in Kolkata.

The 42-year-old, who remains one of the most iconic figures in Indian football, encouraged the current players to make the most of the opportunity.

“This is their time. There are so many talented youngsters in the team. Everyone will get their opportunity, just like I got mine 20 years ago,” he said.

Chhetri recently returned to training but ruled out any immediate thoughts of international retirement and joked about his own fitness.

“I just trained for 20 minutes. Now I’m about 42, I can barely run properly and I’m struggling,” he said.

When asked about the selection of India’s current team and the exclusion of some players, Chhetri was reluctant to give an opinion.

“That’s for the coach to answer. Now I’m just a fan and I’m watching like everyone else,” he said.

Sunil Chhetri: “I’m really happy and a little jealous that the boys will be playing against Brazil, Uruguay and Panama.” pic.twitter.com/OWmGM629JV— IFTWC – Indian Football (@IFTWC) August 30, 2026

I ALWAYS HAVE HOPE

The former striker’s comments came in a tough time for Indian football. The national team has fallen to 138th in the FIFA rankings as uncertainty over the domestic calendar continues after the previous contract to run the Indian Super League commercially ended.

Indian clubs also faced financial difficulties and players were left uncertain about their immediate future.

However, Chhetri said that the current situation cannot be blamed on just one stakeholder. He urged the AIFF, players, coaches and media to take responsibility and work together.

“The graph of Indian football for so many years that I have been playing has always been like this. We are probably at a stage where things are not going very well because of what we have done with the national team, what we have done in the league, etc. But we all have to hope,” he said.

“It will be alright at the end of the day. It takes time. Looking at all your faces, we all want everything to be alright as soon as possible. It will be. I always hope. Things might be a little ‘kharab’ (bad) but everything will be alright.”

India’s slide in the FIFA rankings, Chhetri said, was also something the players had to take responsibility for.

“I was also part of the national team. And why did the ranking go down? It’s because of the way we played, the games we should have won but lost. That’s why we are where we are. We take responsibility as players. I took it when I was there,” he said.

Chhetri said the same responsibility must extend to every part of Indian football.

“I’m pretty sure the players who are playing right now will take responsibility. But if this country is going to be in a good place, it has to be all of us. Each one of us has to be equally responsible,” he said.

“We should not blame each other, say this player is bad, the coach is bad, AIFF is bad.

The former captain said Indian football had a choice between continuing the blame game and finding a solution together.

“We can blame each other and we know where we’re going to end up. Or we can all come together and do our jobs,” he said. “And everyone is important, including the media.

Chhetri said asking the tough questions remains important, but urged everyone involved in the sport to remain hopeful.

“So a little bit of hope. We have to ask the right questions of course. There are a lot of things we have to improve,” he said.

He also emphasized that improvement would require discussion rather than finger-pointing.

“If you want to blame each other, there will be no point. We will have to have a debate. We have to talk, find a way and move forward,” Chhetri said.

– The end

Issued by:

Akshay Ramesh

Published on:

30 Aug 2026 10:25 IST