Dhanpal Ganesh (born 13 June 1994) is an Indian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Chennaiyin Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional Association football, football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Football in India, Indian football. The club was founded in Au ...

in the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

Career

Pune

Born in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, Ganesh became the first player from the Pune Academy to sign with the first-team at

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

in July 2011. He made his professional debut for the club on 18 December 2011 against

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually part ...

at the

Fatorda Stadium Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, locally known as Fatorda Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium situated in Margao, Goa, India. The venue has been used to host both international football as well as International cricket matches.However after th ...

; he came on in the 94th minute for Othallo Tabia as Pune won the match 2–0. He made his first start for the club in the I-League on 18 April 2012 against

Salgaocar Salgaocar Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Vasco, Goa, that competes in the Goa Professional League. They have also played in the I-League, then top flight of Indian football league system. Founded in 1956, the clu ...

in a 2–0.

Pailan Arrows (loan)

For the

2012–13 I-League The 2012–13 I-League was the sixth season of the I-League, the Indian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2007. The season began on 6 October 2012 and finished on 12 May 2013 with Churchill Brothers ...

season Ganesh was loaned out to the

Pailan Arrows Indian Arrows (formerly known as Pailan Arrows) was an Indian developmental football club that competed in the I-League. The club was formed by the All India Football Federation in 2010, with a main goal of nurturing young Indian football talen ...

for the whole season. He made his debut for the Arrows on 28 August 2012 in the Durand Cup against Air India in which he started as Arrows drew the match 1–1. He then made his league debut for Pailan Arrows on the league opening day against

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

on 6 October 2013. He came on as an 87th-minute substitute for

Holicharan Narzary Halicharan Narzary ( Bodo हलिचरन नार्जारी born 10 May 1994) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Indian Super League club Bengaluru. Club career Youth career Narzary first started playing ...

as the Arrows won the match 3–2.

Return to Pune

After a season with the Arrows, Dhanpal was back at Pune for the 2013-14 season. He would make 12 appearances in the league and would feature regularly in the starting line-up in the second half of the season. He kept up his good form and made his debut in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

in a qualifier against Hanoi T&T in a 0–3 loss. Dhanpal would score his first senior goal for Pune in the opening game of Pune's

2014 Durand Cup The 2014 Durand Cup was the 127th season of the Durand Cup, the third oldest football tournament in the world, which is a knock-out competition held in India. Mohammedan were the defending champions, having beaten ONGC 2–1 in the 2013 Fina ...

campaign in a 3–0 win over

. He started in the first ever Pune Derby against

Bharat FC Bharat FC (also known as Kalyani Bharat FC) was an Indian professional football team based in Pune, Maharashtra that competed in the I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system. The team was founded on 26 August 2014 by Kalyani Gr ...

but was sent-off following off the ball challenge on the 88th minute of the game which ended 1-1.

Chennaiyin

In July 2015 Ganesh was drafted to play for

in the

2015 Indian Super League The 2015 Hero Indian Super League was the second season of the Indian Super League, a professional football league played in India since 2014. The season features eight teams. The regular season kicked off on 3 October and ended on 6 December, w ...

International

On 20 June 2012 it was confirmed that Ganesh would play for the India U23 team during

2013 AFC U-22 Asian Cup qualification The 2013 AFC U-22 Championship qualification was the qualification tournament for the inaugural edition of the AFC U-22 Asian Cup. The qualifiers took place from 23 June to 3 July 2012, but were later changed to 2–10 June for Group D, due to N ...

. He made his debut for the under-23 team on 23 June 2012 against Lebanon U23 in the 2013 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers in which India won 5–2. He made his senior debut on 17 March 2015 against

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Eugeneson Lyngdoh Eugeneson Lyngdoh (born 10 September 1986) is a member of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly representing the Mawphlang constituency. He is also a former Indian footballer who lastly played as a midfielder for Indian Super League side East Ben ...

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Chennaiyin *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Champions *

: 2017-18 Champions

References

External links

Pune Football Club Profile
1994 births Living people Footballers from Chennai Indian footballers Pune FC players Indian Arrows players Chennaiyin FC players Association football midfielders I-League players India youth international footballers Indian Super League players {{India-footy-bio-stub