Gurjinder Kumar

Gurjinder Kumar
Personal information
Date of birth (1990-10-10) 10 October 1990 (age 33)
Place of birth Nawanshahr, Punjab, India
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Left back
Youth career
2001–2007 Chandigarh FA
2007–2010 Tata FA
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2014 Pune 84 (5)
2014–2016 Salgaocar 29 (1)
2015 → Pune City (loan) 4 (0)
2017 Minerva Punjab 3 (0)
2017–2020 Mohun Bagan 24 (0)
2020–2023 NorthEast United 45 (0)
International career
2011 India U23 2 (0)
2012– India 5 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:28, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

Gurjinder Kumar (Punjabi: ਗੁਰਜਿੰਦਰ ਕੁਮਾਰ; born 10 October 1990) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender.

Club career

Early career

Born in Nawanshahr, Punjab, Gurjinder was born into a family of footballers.[1] At the age of 10, after his older brother died, he started to take football seriously and joined the Chandigarh Football Academy.[1] After spending seven years there Kumar moved to the famed Tata Football Academy where he joined the academy senior side.[1]

Pune

In 2010, Gurjinder signed his first professional contract with Pune of the I-League.[1] He scored his first professional goal during his first season at the club on 26 February 2011 against Viva Kerala in which his 11th-minute goal put Pune into an early 2–0 lead.[2] The club eventually managed to get into a 4–0 lead but then gave up four goals to draw the match 4–4.[2] After the 2010–11 season, he was named the Pune's best under-23 player at the club's annual awards ceremony.[1] Gurjinder was part of the team that played against the then Premier League side Blackburn Rovers on 7 October 2011, in a game that Blackburn won 3-0[3] He then scored his second career goal the next season against Viva Kerala again, in a match Pune managed to win 3–1.[4] Kumar then went on to score his third goal of his career, and his second that season, only a month later on 21 December 2011 against Churchill Brothers in which his 84th-minute strike helped Pune finish the match 2–0 winners.[5] His fourth goal of his career, and last for the season, came on 18 January 2012 against Mumbai in which he found the net in the 90th minute to finish a 3–0 victory for Pune.[6] Then after the 2011–12 season, he was given the "Goal of the Year" award for his strike against Chirag United Kerala.[7] He won the Ashok Piramal Group "Young Player of the Year" award for 2012–13 season.[8]

Gurjinder did not score again until the 2013–14 season when his goal against Rangdajied United on 11 December 2013 to give Pune a 2–0 lead which they would eventually give up and lose 3–2.[9]

Salgaocar

Gurjinder Kumar signed for Salgaocar for the 2014-15 I-League and made his debut in the 2014-15 Indian Federation Cup, scoring 3 times in the group stages.[10]

FC Pune City

In July 2015 Kumar was drafted to play for FC Pune City in the 2015 Indian Super League.[11]

NorthEast United

In 2020 Kumar was signed by NorthEast United on a 2 years deal.

International

In June 2011 Kumar made his international debut for India at the under-23 level against Qatar U23 side for the 2012 Olympic qualifiers.[1] Then on 1 February 2012 Kumar was called up to the senior India side for a preparation camp for the upcoming 2012 AFC Challenge Cup.[12] He then made his senior international debut for India on 27 February 2012 against Azerbaijan in a friendly in which he started and played the full 90 minutes as India lost 0–3.[13][14]

Career statistics

Club

As of 19 April 2023[15]
Club Season League Cup AFC Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Pune 2010–11 I-League 22 1 4[a][b] 0 — 26 1
2011–12 21 3 3[a] 0 — 24 3
2012–13 23 0 5[a][b] 0 — 28 0
2013–14 18 1 3[a] 0 7[c][d] 0 28 1
Total 84 5 15 0 7 0 106 5
Salgaocar 2014–15 I-League 18 0 9[a][b] 3 — 27 3
Pune City (loan) 2015 Indian Super League 4 0 0 0 — 4 0
Salgaocar 2015–16 I-League 11 1 0 0 — 11 1
Minerva Punjab 2016–17 3 0 0 0 — 3 0
Mohun Bagan 2017–18 I-League 5 0 3[a] 0 — 8 0
2018–19 11 0 0 0 — 11 0
2019–20 8 0 4[b] 0 — 12 0
Total 24 0 7 0 0 0 31 0
NorthEast United 2020–21 Indian Super League 18 0 — — 18 0
2021–21 16 0 — — 16 0
2022–23 11 0 2[a] 0 — 13 0
Total 45 0 2 0 0 0 47 0
Career total 189 6 33 3 7 0 229 9
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Appearance(s) in Super Cup
  2. ^ a b c d Appearance(s) in Durand Cup
  3. ^ Appearance(s) in AFC Champions League
  4. ^ Appearance(s) in AFC Cup

International stats

As of 24 December 2013[16]
India national team
Year Apps Goals
2012 1 0
2013 4 0
Total 5 0

Honours

Individual

  • Pune's Best U-23 Player of the Year: 2010–11
  • Pune F.C. Goal of the Year: 2011–12
  • Ashok Piramal Group Young Player of the Year: 2012–13

Club

Mohun Bagan

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Pune FC. "5 Gurjinder Kumar". Pune FC. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b "PUNE VS. CHIRAG KERALA 4 – 4". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  3. ^ "💒婚活サイト口コミ比較ランキングおすすめ令和2021年👰人気成婚率で縁結び".
  4. ^ "PUNE VS. CHIRAG KERALA 3 – 1". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  5. ^ "CHURCHILL BROTHERS VS. PUNE 0 – 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  6. ^ "PUNE VS. MUMBAI 3 – 0". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  7. ^ "Douhou Pierre is Pune FC player of the year". The Hindu. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  8. ^ D'Sa, Edwin. "Defender Anas first Indian player to bag 'Pune FC Player of the Year' award". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  9. ^ "RANGDAJIED UNITED VS. PUNE 3 – 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  10. ^ "India - G. Kumar - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway".
  11. ^ Noronha, Anselm (10 July 2015). "Cavin Lobo to Kerala, Keegan Pereira to Mumbai and the comprehensive Indian Super League Draft". Goal.com. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  12. ^ "Team India leaves for Dubai". The All India Football Federation. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  13. ^ "Azerbaijan vs. India (3:0)".
  14. ^ Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "NFT player — National team & Club appearances: Kumar, Gurjinder". national-football-teams.com. National Football Teams. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  15. ^ Gurjinder Kumar at Soccerway
  16. ^ "Gurjinder Kumar". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  17. ^ "Mohun Bagan Win Calcutta Football League After Eight Years". sports.ndtv.com. Retrieved 15 September 2018.

External links