Fanai Lalrempuia (born 11 May 1996) 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

central 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 ...

. He is known for his superb ball control, accurate passing and speed.

Career

Early career

Born in

Lunglei Lunglei (Pron: /ˈlooŋgˌleɪ/) is a town, situated in the south-central part of Mizoram state, northeastern India. Lunglei, literally meaning 'bridge of rock' got its name from a bridge like rock found in the riverine area around Nghasih - a ...

Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...

, Lalrempuia started to play football from the age of 11 for his local side Bazarveng FC. Under the coaching of Flalbiakchhunga, his head coach at Bazarveng FC, Lalrempuia started to improve as a player. Eventually he was selected to join the Maomit High School under-14 side that was to compete in the

Subroto Cup Subroto Cup International Football Tournament is a prestigious international inter-school football tournament that is held annually in New Delhi, India. The tournament held annually since 1960, is named after the Indian Air Force Air Marshal S ...

in 2010. While playing in the Subroto Cup Lalrempuia was spotted by

Pune F.C. Academy The Pune Football Club Academy was the youth team of Pune F.C., Pune Football Club. They played in the I-League U19, the highest level of youth football in India. The team closed operations in 2016 and were purchased by Indian Super League side ...

assistant coach

Gift Raikhan Gift Raikhan (born 25 May 1981) is an Indian retired footballer who played as a left-back, and football manager who last managed NEROCA. He also managed Manipur football team in Santosh Trophy. Playing career During a playing career which spa ...

who then selected Fanai to trial at the academy. After the trial Lalrempuia was selected to join the academy. During his two seasons with the academy, Lalrempuia won the

I-League U19 The Youth League, also known as Hero Youth League for sponsorship reasons, is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the All India Football Federation. It consists of 3 age groups competitions: U17 (E ...

twice in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

while also scoring a total of six goals during that time.

Pune

Then at the age of only 16, Lalrempuia made his professional debut for

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 the

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

on 20 April 2013 against Air India at the Balewadi Sports Complex. He came on in the 55th minute of the match as a substitute for Velington Rocha as Pune went on to win the match 6–0. Lalrempuia scored his first goal in the I-League on 4 April 2015 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 ...

in the first ever Pune derby.

NorthEast United

In 2016, Lalrenpuia has signed with

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 ...

club

NorthEast United NorthEast United FC is an Indian professional football club based in Guwahati, Assam that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded on 13 April 2014 during the inaugural season of Indian Supe ...

International

On 28 September 2013, it was announced that Lalrempuia had been selected into the 23-man squad for the India U19 side during the

2014 AFC U-19 Championship The 2014 AFC U-19 Championship was the 38th edition of the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for players aged 19 and below. Myanmar were approved as hosts of the competition on 25 ...

qualifiers. He then made his international debut for the country at the U19 level in India's first match of qualifiers against Qatar U20 on 4 October 2013. He started the match and lasted the full 90 minutes as India lost 2–0.

Career statistics

References

External links

Pune Football Club Profile
1996 births Living people People from Lunglei district Footballers from Mizoram I-League players Indian Super League players Men's association football midfielders Indian men's footballers Pune FC players NorthEast United FC players Punjab FC players India men's youth international footballers FC Pune City players {{India-footy-bio-stub