Sanju Yadav (born 12 September 1997) is an Indian women's 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Odisha FC Odisha Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Prior to the inaugural Indian Super League season, the club was founded ...

in the

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League, known as ''Hero Indian Women's League'' for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp is the women's top tier professional football league in Indian football. Founded in 2016, currently a total of 18 teams from across the ...

and represents the

India women's national football team The India women's national football team is controlled by the All India Football Federation and represents India at women's international football competitions. Under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and governed in Asia by the AFC. India is al ...

Early life

Born in the village of Alakhpura, Yadav began playing football at the age of ten in order to gain scholarships and money for her family. She mainly trains with her village players and the India national team.

Domestic career

In October 2016, Sanju was part of the Alakhpura side that took part in the

preliminary round A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the

. On 17 October 2016, she scored a

hattrick A hat-trick (commonly known as a hat trick), in various sports, means achieving three goals, three wickets in three deliveries, etc. in a single match. Hat trick, hat-trick or hattrick may refer to: * "Hat Trick" (''Once Upon a Time''), an episod ...

for the club against Bodyline. This helped her side win 4–0. She emerged the top scorer at the league's preliminary round, netting 11 goals and thus helping her team qualify for the tournament's final round. At the final round of the women's league she helped her team qualify in the semi finale by scoring three goals. On 21 December 2016, after her performances for both her club and country, Yadav was named the

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Emerging Player of the Year. She then joined

Rising Student's Club Rising Student's Club is an Indian professional multisports club based in Cuttack, Odisha, India. The club plays in the FAO League, the fourth tier of Indian football and top tier of Odisha state football. It played in the Indian Women's League ...

for the 2017-18 Indian Women's League and scored 2 goals for the club in the Final Round. In 2019 she joined

Gokulam Kerala FC Gokulam Kerala Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Calicut, Kerala. Founded in 2017, the club competes in the I-League, the second tier of Indian football league system. They won the 2020–21 I-League to become the ...

International career

In February 2016, Yadav was selected as a member of the 20-woman

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

squad that would participate in the

2016 South Asian Games The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is a major multi-sport event which took place from 5 February to 16 February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. A total of 2,672 athletes competed in 226 events over 22 sports ...

. She made her debut and scored her first goal internationally on 13 February 2016 against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. Her goal in the 74th minute was the fourth as India won 5–1 and moved into the gold medal match. Two days later she came on as a substitute in the 69th minute as India won the tournament, defeating

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 ...

4–0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list India's goal tally first.''

Goals Year

Honours

India *

SAFF Women's Championship The SAFF Women's Championship, also called the ''South Asian Football Federation Women's Cup'', is the main association football competition of the women's national football teams, governed by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). All seve ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

South Asian Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic C ...

Gold medal:

Rising Students Club *

: 2017–18 Individual *

Women's Emerging Player of the Year: 2016

References

External links

Sanju Yadav
at All India Football Federation * Living people 1997 births Indian women's footballers Sportswomen from Haryana Footballers from Haryana People from Bhiwani district India women's international footballers India women's youth international footballers Women's association football forwards South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in football Gokulam Kerala FC Women players Sethu FC players Odisha FC Women players Indian Women's League players Footballers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India {{India-women-footy-bio-stub