Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Nikhil Chandra Shekhar Poojary [1] | |||||||||||||||||||
Date of birth | 3 September 1995 | |||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Mangaluru, Karnataka | |||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Right-back, winger | |||||||||||||||||||
Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Bengaluru | |||||||||||||||||||
Number | 27 | |||||||||||||||||||
Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ryan FC | ||||||||||||||||||||
Dodsal | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mumbai | ||||||||||||||||||||
2015–2016 | East Bengal | |||||||||||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | ( Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
2016–2018 | East Bengal | 14 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
2018–2019 | Pune City | 9 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
2019–2024 | Hyderabad | 79 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
2024– | Bengaluru | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
International career‡ | ||||||||||||||||||||
2017–2018 | India U23 | 5 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
2017– | India | 25 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:43, 7 February 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:00, 13 January 2024 (UTC) |
Nikhil Chandra Shekhar Poojary (born 3 September 1995) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a right-back or winger for Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team.
Born in Mangalore, Karnataka to a Tulu speaking Billava family, Poojary started his career with Ryan FC in Mumbai. [2] While with Ryan FC, Poojary was selected to play for the Maharashtra under-19 side in the school games nationals. [3] Poojary soon joined the youth side of Mumbai before signing with Kolkata giants East Bengal in 2015.
Poojary made his first-team debut for East Bengal on 4 August 2016 in their opening Calcutta Football League fixture against Bhawanipore. He came on as a 78th minute substitute for Jiten Murmu as East Bengal won 2–1. [4] Poojary scored his first goal for the club on 23 September 2016 during the group stage match of the Bordoloi Trophy against Bongobi Agragami of Bangladesh. His strike in the 87th minute was the last goal in a 6–0 victory. [5]
He scored his first international goal against Maldives in the 2018 SAFF Championship.
Club | Season | League | Cup | AFC | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
East Bengal | 2016–17 | I-League | 14 | 0 | 2 [a] | 0 | — | 6 [b] | 1 [c] | 22 | 1 | |
2017–18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 [d] | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
Total | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 24 | 2 | ||
Pune City | 2018–19 | Indian Super League | 9 | 1 | 2 [e] | 0 | — | — | 11 | 1 | ||
Hyderabad | 2019–20 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 18 | 0 | |||
2020–21 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 0 | ||||
2021–22 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 1 | ||||
2022–23 | 21 | 0 | 7 [f] | 0 | — | — | 29 | 0 | ||||
2023–24 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 11 | 0 | ||||
Total | 79 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 1 | ||
Bengaluru | 2023–24 | Indian Super League | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 7 | 0 | ||
Career total | 109 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 128 | 3 |
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
India | 2017 | 2 | 0 |
2018 | 5 | 1 | |
2019 | 1 | 0 | |
2023 | 13 | 0 | |
2024 | 2 | 0 | |
Total | 22 | 1 |
No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 9 September 2018 | Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh | 4 | Maldives | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2018 SAFF Championship | [8] |
India
Hyderabad