India won the SAFF Championship in a penalty shootout against Kuwait on Wednesday and it was goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu whose brilliant save helped India clinch the title.

Gurpreet was exceptional in the match as he made some crucial saves against Lebanon through the 120 minutes of play. Overall, this was his 24th clean sheet for the Indian team, which is the highest by any Indian goalkeeper.

Advertisement

Subrata Paul trails him in this regard, having registered 18 clean sheets. While former India custodian Peter Thangaraj had mustered 15 clean sheets.

All we know about Gurpreet Singh Sandhu

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team.

Sandhu was born on February 3, 1992, in Mohali, Punjab. He started playing football at the age of 9.

In the era of cricket, Gurpreet took up the game of football at the age of eight and joined St Stephen’s Academy in 2000. After he performed well at St Stephen’s Academy, Gurpreet was selected for his state youth team, the Punjab U16s. The young player made his youth state-level debut in 2006 in Haldwani. He stayed at St. Stephen’s Academy until 2009 when he joined I-League side East Bengal as a youth player and spend the rest of 2009 playing for the Kolkata-based teams’ youth team.

Gurpreet made his name at East Bengal as a very talented goal-keeper. He made his India U-19 debut against Iran in the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers.
He made his senior team debut in 2011 against Turkmenistan. His efforts took some years to cement his place in the Indian team.
Since 2015, he has been India’s first-choice goal-keeper and has maintained that spot.

Gurpreet has been in the Indian setup for 12 years. With time, he has grown in importance. He has bagged four SAFF Championships (2011, 2015, 2021 and 2023).
He has nailed two Intercontinental Cup titles (2019 and 2023).
Gurpreet has won the 2023 Tri-Nation honor and a bronze medal at the 2019 King’s Cup. He played a crucial role in India’s 2019 Asian Cup qualification.