ISL 2017: Bengaluru FC Captain Sunil Chhetri Exclusive Interview

In an exclusive interview to newsclick.in's Siddhanth Aney, at his new home in Bengaluru, Sunil Chhetri spoke extensively on a subject close to his heart—Bengaluru FC and its debut season in the Indian Super League. The club plays its first game in the Indian Super League tomorrow. Chhetri will take the field for the club closest to him against Mumbai City FC—the team he played for in the last edition of the tournament. 

In this conversation Chhetri talks about why it is imperative for Indian football to have a cohesive calendar and a single, structured league. Disappointed at having lost out on players such as Rino Anto and Eugeneson Lyngdoh in the ISL draft, Chhetri talks about the process of rebuilding that the club had to go through and the challenges of sustaining success on the field. As a new club, that came into being as recently as 2013, Bengaluru FC have been success story. With trophies in every season so far, the club has established itself as a force on the Indian football scene. But playing in the ISL comes with a new set of challenges, greater visibility and far more pressure. Here is what the captain of the team, who has been with the club since the day it was incepted, has to say about all these issues.