Irungbam Khelemba Singh (born 1985) is a retired 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 played as a defender.

Career

Early career

Khelemba Singh hails from

Imphal Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the fo ...

. He had started playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

since his schooldays. His talent didn't go unnoticed and he soon played in the Manipur League for SSC Sekta & Sagaoband United. In 2004, he joined

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

's Green Valley F.C. and then played in the I-League 2nd division for Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB), the same year. After joining

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 ...

in 2005, Khelemba played for four other I-League clubs

Viva Kerala Viva Kerala Football Club (also known as Chirag United Club Kerala) was an Indian professional association football club based in the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. The club was originally formed in 2004, as ''Viva Kerala''. They participated in ...

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...

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 ...

before joining McDowell Mohun Bagan.

Viva Kerala

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 ...

match at

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

against

, when Sulley Mussah had fouled

Badmus Babatunde Ayomide Babatunde Badmus (28 February 1986) is a Nigerian footballer who plays as a forward. Babatunde has played for ONGC F.C. in 2010–11 I-League in which he scored 11 goals before his club was relegated. Career ONGC F.C. Badmus Babatunde ...

captain Khelemba Singh scored from a 40-yard long stunning free kick, a thriller which finally ended in a 3–2 win for the home team.

Mumbai

On 24 November 2013 it was announced that Khelemba has signed for Mumbai on loan from IMG Realiance with three other players

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

, N.P. Pradeep and Peter Costa. He made his debut on 2 December 2013 against

East Bengal F.C. East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top fl ...

at the

Balewadi Sports Complex The Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex is a sports complex located in Pune, India. The complex is situated about 15 km from Pune downtown and 5 km from Hinjawadi. This complex was the venue for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, Kh ...

in which he played the whole match as Mumbai won the match 3–2.

References

External links

* http://www.indianfootball.com/en/statistic/player/detail/playerId/92 * http://goal.com/en-india/people/india/25397/khelemba-singh {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Khelemba Indian men's footballers 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Imphal Footballers from Manipur Churchill Brothers FC Goa players East Bengal Club players I-League players Air India FC players Salgaocar FC players Mohun Bagan AC players Mumbai FC players Shillong Lajong FC players Indian Super League players Chennaiyin FC players Men's association football defenders Calcutta Football League players