(April 28, 2024) The craze for football is rising rapidly across India. Over the years, the country has produced remarkable talent — players who have earned the right to compete in prominent foreign leagues and carried the Indian football story to European pitches, global academies, and professional clubs across the world. These Indian footballers in foreign leagues have shown an entire generation what is possible. They have proved that the dream of playing in Europe or on foreign soil is not beyond reach for a boy from Kerala, West Bengal, Delhi, or Auckland.
Taking inspiration from the global giants of the game, these players are raising the standard of Indian football one appearance at a time. As India’s football ecosystem continues to grow, The Global Indian profiles four of the most inspiring Indian footballers who have played or earned recognition in foreign leagues and competitions.
Sarpreet Singh, 27, Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand national team
Born in Auckland on 20 February 1999 to parents of Indian origin, Sarpreet Singh became the first player of Indian descent to represent Bayern Munich and the first New Zealander to play in the Bundesliga since Wynton Rufer retired in 2001. His family ran a grocery store in New Zealand and Sarpreet has often spoken about growing up in a close-knit Punjabi household alongside his elder brother and sister. Starting his football career at local clubs Papatoetoe and Onehunga Sports before joining the Wellington Phoenix academy, this Indian-origin footballer caught global attention with his performances as an attacking midfielder.
Sarpreet Singh
After signing with Bayern Munich in 2019, Singh celebrated the third division championship with the reserves and made two Bundesliga appearances for the first team, describing it as a huge honour for him and his family. Loan spells followed at 1. FC Nürnberg and Jahn Regensburg before further stints at Hansa Rostock, União de Leiria, and Serbian club FK TSC Bačka Topola. He returned to Wellington Phoenix on loan in February 2026 to help the club’s push for its maiden major trophy, bringing with him experience from Germany, Portugal, and Serbia.
Most significantly, Sarpreet and the New Zealand All Whites qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, the crowning moment of a remarkable journey from a Punjabi household in Auckland to the world’s biggest football stage. While speaking to the press, Sarpreet shared that he did not believe it when he first received the news that Bayern Munich was interested in him. He expressed that it was a dream come true and that he was learning as much as he was enjoying the game.
Ishan Pandita, 27, FC Goa, India national team
Born in New Delhi and raised across the Philippines and Bengaluru, Ishan Pandita created history by becoming the first Indian footballer to sign a professional contract with a Spanish La Liga club when he joined CD Leganés in 2016 as a teenager. Nicknamed the Super Sub because of his extraordinary ability to score late match-winning goals, with more than 80% of his goals coming after the 75th minute, Pandita spent six formative years across various lower-division Spanish clubs.
He signed a one-year deal with Tercera Division club Lorca FC in August 2019, playing 26 matches and finishing as the club’s top scorer in the 2019-20 season with six goals. After returning to India, he joined FC Goa ahead of the 2020-21 ISL season, where he made an immediate impact as a super sub and earned his first senior India call-up. He subsequently joined Jamshedpur FC for the 2021-22 Hero ISL season before spells at Kerala Blasters and Malappuram FC. He rejoined FC Goa in January 2026.
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Pandita has spoken about how his years in Spain fundamentally transformed him as a footballer. The Indian footballer believes it was his stint in Spain that helped him become a better player. The exposure and facilities there brought out the best in him and gave him a level of tactical discipline that shaped his entire professional career.
Shubho Paul, 21, Mohun Bagan Super Giant II
Shubho Paul grew up in Howrah, West Bengal, playing barefoot as a child because he could not afford football boots. His elder brother, ten years his senior, had his own dreams of going professional but sacrificed them to support the family, channelling everything into nurturing Shubho’s talent instead. It is one of Indian football’s most moving stories of sacrifice and sibling devotion.
Paul was spotted playing against a senior team in Howrah by East Bengal and Mohun Bagan legend Chima Okorie, who was so impressed that he bought the barefoot youngster a pair of football boots. Paul went on to train under Okorie before being signed by Sudeva Delhi FC, for whom he scored 14 goals in 11 games in the AIFF Youth League, earning a call-up to the senior team and then the U-17 India national team.
In 2021, the Indian footballer earned a place in Bayern Munich’s prestigious FC Bayern World Squad. The global talent hunt selected 15 players born between 2003 and 2004 from 64 nations, based on submitted video clips assessed by Bayern legend Giovane Elber, former Bayern captain Klaus Augenthaler, and international youth coach Christopher Loch. It was a moment of immense national pride — the first Indian footballer selected for the Bayern World Squad programme. The news was deeply emotional for his elder brother, who had given up his own football dreams a decade earlier so that Shubho could pursue his. Now 21, Paul currently plays for Mohun Bagan Super Giant II, continuing a journey that began barefoot on the streets of Howrah.
Ashiq Vithayathil, 29, European football pioneer
Kerala-born Ashiq Vithayathil left India after earning a trial with Italian Serie A side AS Roma, where he played for the reserve team as a teenager, training alongside the likes of Edin Dzeko, Stephan El-Shaarawy, and Francesco Totti in what he described as a dream come true moment. Among the handful of Indians to have played professional European football, Vithayathil, whose teammates nicknamed him “Thiago”, went on to have stints with clubs in Germany, Italy, and Spain, including CD Tablero in the Spanish lower divisions.
Vithayathil has spoken candidly about what separates European football from Indian football. He noted that the game in Europe is more about the mental aspect, while physical traits and technique remain equally important. He explained that players in Spain are trained on first touch, spatial awareness, and the intensity to play 90 minutes at full pace from the age of six or seven, giving them an instinctive professional foundation that Indian grassroots football has yet to fully replicate.
Vithayathil, who has had stints with clubs in Germany and Italy as well, has expressed his desire to one day represent Kerala Blasters in the ISL, a homecoming chapter that Indian football fans would warmly welcome. His decade-long career in European football remains one of the most sustained professional journeys any Indian outfield player has built on foreign soil.
The future of Indian football in foreign leagues
The stories of Sarpreet Singh, Ishan Pandita, Shubho Paul, and Ashiq Vithayathil represent different chapters of the same ambitious story — that Indian footballers belong on the global stage. From Bundesliga appearances and World Cup qualifications to La Liga contracts and AS Roma training grounds, these Indian footballers in foreign leagues have proven that the barriers are not insurmountable. As India’s football infrastructure, coaching standards, and youth development programmes continue to improve, the next generation of Indian footballers in foreign leagues will carry the flag even further.
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