Vinit Rai Chamling (born 10 October 1997) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Indian Super League club Mumbai City and the India national team.

Club career

Born in Duliajan, Assam, Rai was scouted by the Duliajan Football Academy and later by the Tata Football Academy at the age of 13 and trained there for four years. After graduating from Tata, Rai signed with I-League side Dempo. On signing Rai, Dempo head coach at the time,

Arthur Papas Arthur Papastamatis (born 12 February 1980) is an Australian professional football manager who serves as manager of Newcastle Jets. Background & Education Papas began learning his coaching skills at the age of 16 while a player and started l ...

said "Vinit is a very cultured midfielder with a great range of passing. He has a willingness to always want the ball and link the play between the defensive and forward lines." Rai would enter the 2014–15 season with Dempo as the youngest first-team player. After spending a majority of the season playing for the club's youth team, Rai made his professional debut for Dempo in the league on 1 March 2015 against East Bengal. He came on as an 81st-minute substitute for Jewel Raja as Dempo lost 5–1.

Kerala Blasters

After helping Dempo regain promotion to the I-League, Rai signed with Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters on 6 September 2016. He made his debut for the team on 1 October 2016 against NorthEast United. He started the match and played 76 minutes as Kerala Blasters fell 1–0.

Minerva Punjab

After the ISL 2016 season, Vinit Rai signed with Minerva FC and will make its debut in I-league this season.

Odisha FC

Rai joined Odisha FC for the 2019–20 ISL season as a midfielder. He also captained the team.

Loan to Mumbai City

In 2022, Rai was loaned out to Indian Super League defending champions Mumbai City from Odisha. He was later included in club's

2022 AFC Champions League The 2022 AFC Champions League is the 41st edition of Asia's premier club association football, football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 20th under the current AFC Champions League title. This season is offi ...

squad.

International

Rai made his debut for the India under-23 side on 27 March 2015 against Uzbekistan U23 in the 2016 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. He played 80 minutes as India U23 fell 2–0. Almost a year later, Rai made his debut on the bench for the India senior side in their FIFA World Cup qualifier against Iran. He did not come off the bench though. Rai, however, did make his unofficial debut for India in the team's unofficial friendly against Bhutan. He came on as a 64th minute for Rowllin Borges as India won 3–0.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Mumbai City * Indian Super League (Premiership):

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* Durand Cup runner-up:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

India *

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:

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 ...

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nati ...

third place:

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 ...

India U23 * South Asian Games Silver medal:

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 ...

References

External links

Indian Super League Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Vinit 1997 births Living people People from Dibrugarh district Footballers from Assam Indian Gorkhas Indian men's footballers Dempo SC players Kerala Blasters FC players Punjab FC players Men's association football midfielders I-League players I-League 2nd Division players Indian Super League players India men's youth international footballers 2019 AFC Asian Cup players India men's international footballers Odisha FC players Mumbai City FC players South Asian Games silver medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in football