There is a long way to go for India to enter the list of top football playing nations. They are currently placed at 108 in the FIFA rankings and it will probably require another decade of hard work to be counted anywhere near the top of the ladder.
However, that hasn't stopped players of Indian origin from flourishing as footballers in foreign leagues. We have seen some really good Indian origin players plying their trade in greener pastures over the years. That said, let's take a look at three of the best active players of Indian origin making their names in foreign leagues at present.
Yan Dhanda (Championship)
In 2015, Yan Dhanda made history by becoming the first player of Indian origin to sign a professional contract with the Premier League club Liverpool. However, he couldn't get a better opportunity there other than playing for the U-18 and U-23 teams. So he moved to Swansea City towards the beginning of the 2018/19 season and made headlines by scoring on his senior team debut against Sheffield United as well.
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Dhanda has scored four goals along with one assist in 17 appearances for the Swans so far in the Championship. However, he is struggling with game time, having started just eight matches in the league this season. So it won't be surprising if he moves to another club by the end of the season.
Luciano Narsingh (Eredivisie)
The Dutch international of Indian origin plays for Feyenoord in the Eredivisie League in the Netherlands at present. After starting his career with SC Heerenveen in 2008, Narsingh went on a four-year stint with PSV Eindhoven. It was with PSV that Narsingh attained the status of being one of the top young talents in the world. In a total of 115 games for them, Narsingh netted 29 goals.
He made his international debut for the Netherlands in 2012. However, he suffered a career-threatening injury in 2013 and had to work quite hard to recover from it. He made sporadic appearances for his country from thereon but he hasn't had a call-up since 2016. That, however, didn't stop him from scoring four goals in 19 appearances for them though.
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Narsingh also went on to play in the Premier League for Swansea City in 2017, but made a move back to the Netherlands in 2019 to play for Feyenoord in the Eredivisie. He has played 32 games for them since then and has also scored seven goals.
Sarpreet Singh (Bundesliga)
The 21-year-old made history when he became the first player of Indian origin to play in the Bundesliga last year. Sarpreet was signed by Bayern Munich in the summer of 2019 and thereby made his senior team debut in the month of December. He was born in New Zealand and went to play for Wellington Phoenix in the A-League after impressing at the youth level. Sarpreet impressed a lot during his stint with the Wellington Phoenix as he represented the senior team and reserve side on numerous instances.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Odd Andersen
