Rino Anto (born 3 January 1988) 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 ...

who plays as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for RoundGlass Punjab FC 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 ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Thrissur Thrissur (), formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and t ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, Anto is a product of the

Tata Football Academy Tata Football Academy (Tata FA or TFA) is an association football academy situated in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India, sponsored by Tata Steel, which owns ISL outfit Jamshedpur FC. It is one of the renowned football academies in India. History ...

in Jamshedpur,

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

, where he graduated from in 2008. From 2008 to 2010 Anto played professionally in the

with

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

before being released on 23 February 2010. Then, from 2010 to 2012, Anto played with Salgaocar in the I-League, scoring once against

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 ...

at the Fatorda Stadium in a league match on 19 May 2011 in which he found the net in the 33rd minute as Salgaocar won 3–2. He also played one match for Salgaocar in the AFC Cup on 10 April 2012 against Jordan League side Al-Wehdat in which he started and played only 32 minutes, earning a yellow card, before being subbed off for

Augustin Fernandes Augustin Melwyn Fernandes (born 13 October 1988) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Sudeva Delhi FC in the I-League. Career Born in Goa, Fernandes began his career with the Sesa Football Academy before signin ...

as Salgaocar went on to lose the match 1–2.

Quartz and Mohun Bagan

After playing two seasons with Salgaocar in the I-League, Anto signed for

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

of the

I-League 2nd Division I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind Indian ...

in their search for promotion to the I-League. After not even being able to play in the 2nd Division, Anto joined the

Kerala football team The Kerala football team (Malayalam: കേരള ഫുട്ബോൾ ടീം) is an Indian state level football team representing Kerala in Indian state football competitions including the Santosh Trophy. They have appeared in the Santosh ...

that played in the 2013 Santosh Trophy in which he reached the final before losing to

Services football team The Services football team is an Indian football team representing the Indian Armed Forces in Indian state football competitions. It is operated by the Services Sports Control Board. Santosh Trophy Services have appeared in the final of the S ...

3–4 on penalties. Then on 5 June 2013 it was reported that Anto, along with Wahid Sali, had signed with Mohun Bagan and thus return to the I-League for the 2013–14 season. However, on 24 June 2013, it was reported that Anto had been released from Mohun Bagan, less than 20 days after signing with the club on his second spell as the club could not afford his salary. He made no appearances with the club.

Bengaluru FC

Then, on 20 July 2013, it was announced during a mega-electric gala at the

Bangalore Football Stadium The Bangalore Football Stadium is a football stadium in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was a venue in three editions of the I-League, top-tier football league in the country, and home of Bengaluru FC for one season, when they won I-League trophy in f ...

that Anto was a part of the new direct-entry club

Bengaluru FC Bengaluru Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bangalore, Karnataka. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was established on 20 July 2013, and began its first ...

squad, which would participate in the 2013–14 I-League. He made his debut for Bengaluru in the club's first ever I-League match on 22 September 2013 against Mohun Bagan at the Bangalore Football Stadium, in which he came on as a substitute for Keegan Pereira in the 71st minute as Bengaluru drew the match 1–1. In his debut season with the club, he won the I-League, as the club was declared winner after defeating

Dempo Dempo Mining Corporation Limited is a prominent mining company from the western Indian state of Goa. The mineral business was founded by Mr. Vasantrao S. Dempo in 1941 along with his younger brother Mr. Vaikuntrao Dempo. Mr. Vasantrao S. Demp ...

. The 2015 season started well for Anto, as Bengaluru FC reached the finals of Federation Cup by defeating

Sporting Clube de Goa Sporting Clube de Goa, simply known as Sporting Goa (also known by its abbreviation SCG), is an Indian professional football club based in Panaji, in the Indian state of Goa, that competes in Goa Professional League. The club has also competed ...

three goals to nil in the semifinal. Bengaluru won the final 2–1, as they won their maiden Federation Cup title. Anto also featured in the AFC Champions League qualifying match against

Johor Darul Ta'zim Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional Association football, football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football ...

. Rino signed a 2-year extension to his contract with Bengaluru which would keep him at the club until the end of the 2016-17 season. Anto played his final match for Bengaluru on 31 May 2017 in an AFC Cup match against Maziya S&RC. He came on as an 87th-minute substitute for

Sunil Chhetri Sunil Chhetri (born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team. Widely regarded as the greatest Indian footballer of all time, h ...

as Bengaluru won 1–0.

Kerala Blasters

On 23 July 2017, Anto was selected in the 3rd round of the

2017–18 ISL Players Draft The 2017–18 ISL Players Draft was a players draft conducted by the Indian Super League on 23 July 2017. Format Regulations for the 2017–18 Indian Super League season allow for each club to have a minimum of 15 Indian players and a maximum of ...

by the

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established i ...

for the

2017–18 Indian Super League season The 2017–18 Indian Super League season was the fourth season of the Indian Super League, one of the top Indian professional football leagues. It was established in 2013. The regular season started on 17 November 2017 and ended on 4 March 2018 ...

. He made his debut for the club on 17 November 2017 against ATK. He started the match and helped the Blasters hold a 0–0 draw.

Return to Bengaluru FC

After 2017–18 season, Anto parted ways with Kerala Blasters and joined his former club, Bengaluru FC. BFC had the service of Khabra at right back. Anto would add quality to the BFC defence.

East Bengal

After 2019-20 season, Anto parted ways with Bengaluru FC. He joined East Bengal Football Club. It was his second stint with a

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

based club, first being with Mohun Bagan. East Bengal Football Club had the services of Samad Ali Mallick, Anto would strengthen the right back positio. Later in October 2020, East Bengal moved Rino Anto into their Reserve side.

International career

On 25 February 2015, new Indian coach Stephen Constantine included Anto in the shortlist of 32 players for World Cup qualifier match against

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

. However, due to his injury, he failed to make it into the shortlist of 26 players when Constantine declared in early March. Rino made his national team debut on 11 June 2015 against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

in a Group D game of the 2018 World Cup qualifier in a 1-2 loss at home in Bengaluru.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Tata Football Academy * National Football League II: 2006 Mohun Bagan *

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is offi ...

* Hero Super Cup: *Federation cup: 2009–10 Salagaocar *I-League:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

* Federation Cup: 2011–12 Bengaluru FC *

(2): 2013–14, 2015—16 * Federation Cup (2): 2014–15,

2016-17 16-17 is a band from Basel, Switzerland. Their music combines punk rock, hardcore punk, jazz and industrial music. Biography 16-17 was founded in 1983 by Alex Buess, Knut Remond and Markus Kneubühler. When the group played its first con ...

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 ...

: 2018–19 * AFC Cup: runner-up

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 of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Kerala Blasters *

runner-up:

Kerala * Santosh Trophy: runner-up 2012–13

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anto, Rino 1988 births Living people Footballers from Thrissur Mohun Bagan AC players Salgaocar FC players Bengaluru FC players ATK (football club) players Indian Super League players Association football defenders I-League players Kerala Blasters FC players Indian footballers India international footballers