Rohit Chand Thakuri (born 1 March 1992) is a Nepalese 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 Liga 1 club Persik Kediri and the Nepal national team. During his teenage years, Chand was heavily linked to clubs such as

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Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

, and

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. Chand was awarded The Best Player of The Year in Liga 1 2018 (the highest level of Indonesia football competition) as well as becoming champion with Persija Jakarta.

Early years

Rohit Chand Thakuri was born in

Surkhet Surkhet District ( ne, सुर्खेत जिल्ला, ) is a district in Karnali Province of mid-western Nepal. Surkhet is the one of the ten districts of Karnali located about west of the national capital Kathmandu. The district's are ...

, Nepal. He started playing football at the age of eight with his brother Rabin Chand Thakuri, who is also a semi-professional footballer, at the age of 13 he was selected for ANFA academy. Chand's tour in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

with the U-16 national team in 2008 was the turning point of his career. At the age of 16, Chand was called up to the senior national team even though he hadn't played any games both at club and U-19 team's level. This allowed Chand to propel his professional football career quickly in Nepal.

Club career

Machhindra Football Club

Chand's first professional club in Nepal's top flight was

Machhindra Football Club Machhindra FC (formally known as Machhindra Bahal Club) is a Nepali professional football club from the central Kathmandu, neighborhood of Keltole, playing in the Martyr's Memorial A-Division League. History Machhindra FC was established in 197 ...

. Chand's play had brought him four Man of the Match awards during the league campaign and his play at the back had been one of the highlights of Machhindra's season. The young stopper has led a defense that doesn't leak too many goals, but he also can be a threat moving up the pitch. Chand had shown his leadership qualities and captained Machhindra. He was awarded best defender of the year award for his spectacular play during the 2067B.S.(2010–11) league season. Machhindra FC also reached the semifinals of the British Gurkha Cup that season. Rohit Chand

HAL SC

On 2 January 2012 it was reported that Chand had signed a 6-month contract with the club after trying his luck in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. In April, Chand scored a hat-trick in I-League match but despite his efforts his team went on to lose the match. And his efforts were not enough to prevent HAL from relegation 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 ...

. His contract at HAL SC expired in 2012 after they were relegated from the top tier of I-League.

PSPS Pekanbaru

Rohit Chand gave a trial at Indonesia Liga Side Arema where he was able to give an average performance, although he was not selected by the team. Later he was signed by another Indonesian side PSPS Pekanbaru on a 10 months.

Persija Jakarta

In May 2013 he signed a 5-month contract with the Indonesian side Persija Jakarta in the

Indonesia Super League Liga 1 ( en, League 1), also known as BRI Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons with Bank Rakyat Indonesia, is the men's top professional football division of the Indonesian football league system. Administered by the PT Liga Indonesia Baru (), Liga 1 i ...

. He was then nominated for the Young player of the year award for the same season in the Indonesian league. After his best performance. He has signed new two year contract with club and Rohit will be staying in Persija Jakarta till end of 2022.

FC Vestsjaelland

Rohit has trained with the club for more than one and half months until 25 December 2013. He was offered with 6 months contract for reserved team as like Indian Goalkeeper Subrata Paul. Rohit's Manager Rabindra Chand denied the offer and placed Rohit to ISL club.

T-Team

Rohit signed a year deal with Malaysian Outfit T-Team FC in January 2016.

Return to Persija Jakarta

After a brief spell for local Nepalese club

Manang Marshyangdi Manang Marshyangdi Club ( ne, मनाङ मर्स्याङ्दी क्लब) is a Nepali professional football club based in Kathmandu, that competes in the Martyr's Memorial A-Division League. The club is record champion of Nepale ...

, it was announced that Chand had returned to Indonesian club, Persija Jakarta.

Persik Kediri

After end contract with Persija Jakarta. he sign with another Indonesian club, Persik Kediri.

International career

Chand is the youngest players to play the full senior level tournament for Nepal, making his debut on 23 March 2009 (16 years 22 days) against Palestine in the AFC which was later broke by Bimal Gharti Magar. He also made many appearances in different age groups (U-17 and U-19 age). Rohit was named the vice-captain of the national team in 2015.

Honours

Club

; Persija Jakarta * Liga 1 :Champions (1):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* Indonesia President's Cup :Champions (1):

* Menpora Cup :Champions (1):

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International

; Nepal * Three Nations Cup : Champions (1):

SAFF Championship The South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly known as SAFF Championship (previously known as ''South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup'' and ''South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup''), is the main international ...

runner up:

Individual

*Special Award of the Year Pulsar NSJF Sports Award (Nepal): 2019 * Liga 1 Most Valuable Player:

* Liga 1 Best Eleven:

Martyr's Memorial A-Division League Martyr's Memorial A-Division League ( Nepali: शहीद स्मारक ए- डिभिजन लिग; formerly known as the Kathmandu League Championship) is the top divisions of football in Nepal. Contested by 12 to 16 clubs, it operat ...

Best Defender:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

* Three Nations Cup: Best Player:

* Menpora Cup Best Eleven:

Personal life

Chand hails from Birendra Nagar in Surkhet District. His idol is Paolo Maldini. Aside from football Chand is also an avid reader and enjoys novels, and also loves pets having a dog named Roger.

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chand, Rohit 1992 births Living people People from Surkhet District Nepalese footballers Nepal international footballers Nepal youth international footballers Nepalese expatriate footballers Bangalore Super Division players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Malaysia Super League players Expatriate footballers in India Expatriate footballers in Indonesia Expatriate footballers in Malaysia Nepalese expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Nepalese expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Machhindra F.C. players Hindustan Aeronautics Limited S.C. players PSPS Pekanbaru players PSPS Riau players Persija Jakarta players Terengganu F.C. II players Manang Marshyangdi Club players Persik Kediri players Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Association football fullbacks Association football utility players Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Nepal