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Sandesh Jhingan (born 21 July 1993) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Indian Super League club FC Goa and the India national team.
He won the AIFF emerging player of the year award in 2014 and made his debut for the India national side in 2015. In 2020, Jhingan was honoured with the Arjuna Award, the second-highest sporting honour of India. He is also the recipient of the 2020–21 AIFF Men's Player of the Year Award.
After impressive performances for his state side and academy team, Jhingan received a call-up to attend trials at I-League 2 side United Sikkim in November 2011. The trials were successful and he signed for the club the next month. Playing alongside former India internationals, Bhaichung Bhutia and Renedy Singh, Jhingan helped United Sikkim earn promotion to the I-League after the 2012 season.
In a June 2020 interview, Jhingan said that he was rejected by many second and third division clubs in Kolkata. He said, "It was during the starting phase of my career. Back then I was looking for clubs and I appeared for quite a few trials at a number of clubs in Kolkata — even in the second and third divisions. But I was rejected by all."
Jhingan made his senior professional debut in the I-League on 6 October 2012 in United Sikkim's first match of the season against Salgaocar. Jhingan started the match and lasted the whole ninety minutes and scored the winning goal for United Sikkim as they won 3–2. He then scored his second goal for the club on 18 November 2012 against Sporting Goa. His goal was the only one for United Sikkim as they lost 2–1. Despite United Sikkim suffering from relegation at the end of the season and conceding a league high 63 goals, Jhingan was noticed to be a bright talent from the team. In February 2013 it was reported that Jhingan was receiving interest from Chinese League One clubs and that he would head to China for trials. However, selection into the India national team meant that Jhingan could not attend trials.
After the 2012–13 season, Jhingan signed a contract with Indian Super League to eventually be part of the competition which was to start in 2014. Despite struggling to sign a contract with an I-League club before the ISL began, Jhingan did reject an offer from Dempo. "Dempo is a big club and to receive an offer from them in itself was a big thing for me. There is no doubt that being associated with the club and playing under coach Arthur Papas would have benefitted me as a player. However, I don't regret my decision," Jhingan said in an interview. In November 2013 it was reported that Jhingan had signed with Rangdajied United on loan for the remainder of the season. However, not long after, it was announced that Jhingan had instead signed for Mumbai for the rest of the I-League campaign. He made his debut for the club on 7 December 2013 against Pune. Jhingan started the match and played for the whole match as Mumbai won 2–1.
A few weeks later, on 15 December, Jhingan received a red card for a second yellow offense in a match against Rangdajied United. Despite being ejected, Mumbai still drew the match 1–1.
On 20 December 2014, Jhingan started for the Kerala Blasters in the 2014 Indian Super League final against Atlético de Kolkata. Despite putting in a valiant performance, Jhingan could not prevent Atlético de Kolkata from taking the title as the Kerala Blasters fell 1–0.
On 8 February 2015, after the 2014 ISL season, Jhingan signed with Sporting Goa on loan for the 2014–15 I-League. He made his debut for the club on the same day against Mumbai. He started and played the full match as Sporting and Mumbai drew 0–0.
2015 ISL Season
After the conclusion of the season, Jhingan was retained by the Kerala Blasters for the 2015 season and in the process became the highest paid Indian player in the league, earning more than 10 million. Despite his performances from last season, which also earned Jhingan interest from abroad, he was not able to replicate the same quality in 2015. Despite being partnered at times with former Spanish international Carlos Marchena and former Newcastle United defender Peter Ramage, Jhingan and the Blasters conceded a league worst 27 goals and finished last in the table.
On 4 March 2016, after the 2015 ISL season, it was announced that Jhingan would join I-League side DSK Shivajians on loan from the Kerala Blasters. He made his debut for the side two days later on 6 March against East Bengal. He started the match and played the full ninety minutes as DSK Shivajians won the match 2–0.
On 14 March 2017, Jhingan played in his first career club continental match when he started for Bengaluru in an AFC Cup match against fellow Indian side Mohun Bagan. He scored the equalizing goal for Bengaluru, his first for the club, in the 51st minute to tie the score at 1–1 before Sunil Chhetri scored the winner for the club six minutes later as the club achieved a 2–1 victory. He scored his second goal for the club, and only goal in the league, on 22 April 2017 against his former club DSK Shivajians. His 90th-minute goal was the last in a 7–0 rout by Bengaluru.
On 21 May 2017, Jhingan was part of the squad that helped Bengaluru FC win the 2016–17 Federation Cup, beating Mohun Bagan 2–0 in the final as Jhingan won his first top tier piece of silverware.
On 21 May 2020, Kerala Blasters announced they have parted ways with Jhingan on mutual consent. When we parted ways, it was mutual and it was a mature decision from both ends. If my decision to leave Kerala was about money, I would have done that long ago when I had much-better offers. I remained loyal because I loved the project, the club and the fans. I’ve given my all to the club. I’ve played with stitches, concussions and muscle problems. Kerala Blasters will always remain a part of me. Nobody can take that away. Jhingan said about his decision of leaving the Blasters .
As a tribute to his contributions to the club, Blasters permanently retired his jersey number 21. But the Blasters later brought back the jersey in April 2022 after Jhingan was involved in a controversy by making a sexist comment after a match against the Blasters during his second tenure at ATK Mohun Bagan.
He returned to training in early October. After nearly two-month long injury, he made it to matchday squad in a league match against Slaven Belupo on 22 October. However he didn't get any minutes as he was benched throughout the game. He was again benched in the next match against Hrvatski Dragovoljac on 30 October.
Prior to the 2013 SAFF Championship, Jhingan was selected to be part of the India national team. In September 2014, Jhingan was selected into the India under-23 side that would play in the 2014 Asian Games. Jhingan made his international debut at this level in India's opening match against the United Arab Emirates on 15 September 2014. He started the match and gave an own goal as India lost 5–0.
Prior to the qualifiers for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Jhingan scored his third international career goal when he scored in the 54th minute in an international friendly against Cambodia on 22 March 2017. His strike was the third for India as they went on to win 3–2. He then scored his fourth goal for India in another international friendly, on 6 June 2017, against Nepal. The goal was the first for India as they won 2–0. Jhingan was then handed the India national team captaincy by head coach Stephen Constantine before their friendly matches against Mauritius and St. Kitts and Nevis in the absence of regular captain Sunil Chhetri. Speaking after the match against Mauritius, in which India won 2–1, Constantine praised Jhingan, saying "Sandesh is a player who should be playing in a bigger league. He is a fighter and leads by example." A couple months later, on 11 November, India secured qualification for the Asian Cup when they defeated Macau 4–1. Jhingan started that match, thus starting in all four of India's qualification matches up till that point, and helped India keep the clean sheet against Macau, Myanmar, and Kyrgyzstan.
In 2018 Intercontinental Cup, Jhingan was a wall at the back for the Indian team. The Indian defense led by him got 3 clean sheets out of 4 matches and they won the tournament by defeating Kenya in the final.
In a friendly match against a stronger Chinese side on 13 October 2018, Jhingan was named as the captain and the match ended 0–0. It was the first time that India were undefeated on Chinese soil. The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the tournament where Jhingan performed at his full potential during his first 5 years with the national side. In the first match of the tournament against Thailand, India defeated them by a score of 4–1. Jhingan's performance during the match was praised by several football pundits. Even though India was defeated by a stronger UAE by 2–0, in the next match they were at the verge of reaching the pre-quarter of the tournament. They only needed a draw against Bahrain in their last group match. India was able to hold them for 90-minute.But an injury time penalty conceded by Pronay Halder costed them the game and they were eliminated from the tournament.
9 September was the last time that Jhingan played for India in 2019. In a crucial away match against Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, the match ended 0-0. He suffered an ACL injury later that month in a pre-friendly match and was reported to be sidelined for the next 6 months. He missed all the remaining 4 matches in this period due to this injury. His absence seriously affected the Indian team and they were at the bottom of the table when 5 matches were completed. They even ended up in a draw against a weaker Bangladesh side. Bangladesh assistant coach Stuart Watkiss even said that the absence of Sandesh Jhingan for their Group E Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup was slightly advantageous for them. "I mean, obviously the two defenders are very good players. Sandesh is excellent, not only defending but he's a big threat from set pieces," he told the reporters.
Jhingan made his comeback to the national team on 25 March 2021 in a friendly against Oman, where he also captained the side.
He is married to Ivanka Pavlova, a photographer from Russia.
| United Sikkim | 2012–13 | I-League | — | 2 | ||
| Mumbai FC | 2013–14 | — | 0 | |||
| Kerala Blasters | 2014 | Indian Super League | — | 0 | ||
| 2015 | — | 0 | ||||
| 2016 | — | 0 | ||||
| 2017–18 | — | 0 | ||||
| 2018–19 | — | 0 | ||||
| 2019–20 | — | 0 | ||||
| Sporting Goa (loan) | 2014–15 | I-League | — | 1 | ||
| DSK Shivajians (loan) | 2015–16 | — | 0 | |||
| Bengaluru FC (loan) | 2016–17 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Mohun Bagan | 2020–21 | Indian Super League | — | 0 | ||
| Šibenik | 2021–22 | Croatian First Football League | — | 0 | ||
| Mohun Bagan | 2021–22 | Indian Super League | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bengaluru FC | 2022–23 | — | 5 | 0 | ||
| FC Goa | 2023–24 | — | 5 | 1 | ||
| India | 0 |
| 2 | |
| 2 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 1 | |
| 0 | |
| 1 | |
| 2025 CAFA Nations Cup |
Bengaluru
India
India U23
Individual
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