Gurjinder Kumar

Gurjinder Kumar (Punjabi: ਗੁਰਜਿੰਦਰ ਕੁਮਾਰ; born 10 October 1990) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a left back for NorthEast United in the Indian Super League. A right-footed player, he can also play as a midfielder and as a right back, which he played as during the 2013-14 Federation Cup.[1]

Gurjinder Kumar
Personal information
Date of birth (1990-10-10) 10 October 1990
Place of birth Nawanshahr, Punjab, India
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Left back
Club information
Current team
 NorthEast United
Number 5
Youth career
2001–2007 Chandigarh FA
2007–2010 Tata FA
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2014 Pune 84 (5)
2014 Salgaocar 18 (0)
2015 → FC Pune City (loan) 4 (0)
2015–2016 Salgaocar 28 (2)
2016–2017 Minerva Punjab 20 (0)
2017–2020 Mohun Bagan 40 (0)
2020— NorthEast United FC 7 (0)
National team
2011 India U23 2 (0)
2012– India 5 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:00, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Career

Early career

Born in Nawanshahr, Punjab, Gurjinder was born into a family of footballers.[2] At the age of 10, after his older brother died, he started to take football seriously and joined the Chandigarh Football Academy.[2] After spending seven years there Kumar moved to the famed Tata Football Academy where he joined the academy senior side.[2]

Pune

In 2010, Gurjinder signed his first professional contract with Pune of the I-League.[2] 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.[3] The club eventually managed to get into a 4–0 lead but then gave up four goals to draw the match 4–4.[3] After the 2010–11 season, he was named the Pune's best under-23 player at the club's annual awards ceremony.[2] 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[4] He then scored his second career goal the next season against Viva Kerala again, in a match Pune managed to win 3–1.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] Then after the 2011–12 season, he was given the "Goal of the Year" award for his strike against Chirag United Kerala.[8] He won the Ashok Piramal Group "Young Player of the Year" award for 2012–13 season.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11]

FC Pune City

In July 2015 Kumar was drafted to play for FC Pune City in the 2015 Indian Super League.[12]

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.[2] 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.[13] 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.[14]

Career statistics

Club career stats
As of 22 June 2015[15]
Club Season League Federation Cup Durand Cup AFC Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Pune 2010–11 I-League2212020——261
2011–12 I-League2133000——243
2012–13 I-League2303020——280
2013–14 I-League181300070281
Salgaocar 2014–15 I-League1805340——273
Career total 102615380701329

International stats
As of 24 December 2013[16]
India national team
YearAppsGoals
201210
201340
Total50

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. George, Joseph. "Pune-FC-Look-To-Recover-From-Their-Alarming-Dip-In-Form". The Hard Tackle. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  2. Pune FC. "5 Gurjinder Kumar". Pune FC. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  3. "PUNE VS. CHIRAG KERALA 4 – 4". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  4. http://punefc.com/friendly-pune-fc-0-3-blackburn-rovers/
  5. "PUNE VS. CHIRAG KERALA 3 – 1". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  6. "CHURCHILL BROTHERS VS. PUNE 0 – 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  7. "PUNE VS. MUMBAI 3 – 0". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  8. "Douhou Pierre is Pune FC player of the year". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  9. D'Sa, Edwin. "Defender Anas first Indian player to bag 'Pune FC Player of the Year' award". Times of India. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  10. "RANGDAJIED UNITED VS. PUNE 3 – 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  11. https://int.soccerway.com/players/billy-davies/167226/
  12. 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.
  13. "Team India leaves for Dubai". The All India Football Federation. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  14. http://www.national-football-teams.com/matches/report/9110/Azerbaijan_India.html
  15. Gurjinder Kumar at Soccerway
  16. "Gurjinder Kumar". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  17. "Mohun Bagan Win Calcutta Football League After Eight Years". sports.ndtv.com. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
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