Vinoth Kumar V (born 14 June 1994) 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 ...

who played 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

, Vinoth began his career with

Rail Wheel Factory Rail Wheel Factory, Yelahanka (RWF) (also known as Wheel and Axle Plant) is a manufacturing unit of Indian Railways, producing wheels, axles and wheel sets of railroad wagons, coaches and locomotives for the use of Indian Railways and overseas c ...

and representing his state in the

B.C. Roy Trophy The Junior National Football Championship, also known as BC Roy Trophy, is an Indian football tournament held for players under 19 years of age. The competition is held every year between the teams representing state associations of India und ...

, an under-19 state tournament. During the 2010–11 season, Kumar played for Rail Wheel Factory in the

Bangalore Super Division The Bangalore Football League is organised by the Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA), which is affiliated to the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) as a ladder-based state football competition involving a total of four di ...

. He was then signed to a professional contract by

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bangalore, India. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the worl ...

for 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 win ...

on 22 August 2011. On 22 October 2011, Kumar made his professional debut for HAL in their

opening round match against Chirag United Kerala. He started the match alongside forward

Jagaba Hamza Jagaba Hamza Auta (born 5 November 1994 ) is a Nigerian footballer who last played as a forward for Lonestar Kashmir FC in the Indian I-League 2nd Division. Hamza has been the highest goal scorer for his team both iBEML SCand HAL. He has p ...

as HAL were defeated 1–0. HAL were eventually relegated at the end of the season but Kumar stayed with the club in the Bangalore Super Division. Kumar scored his first goal of the season on 13 December 2012 against South United. His goal was the second in a 2–1 victory. He then scored a hat-trick in his next match against Students Union on 19 December 2012 in a 5–1 victory. Kumar then scored his second hat-trick of the season on 11 January 2013 against DYSS Football Academy as part of another 5–1 victory. Kumar would go on to end the season with 10 goals as HAL secured the local league title by defeating South United in the final. In February 2013, it was announced that Kumar had signed with South United for 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 India ...

campaign. He scored his first goal for the club on 20 March 2013 against

Hindustan ''Hindūstān'' ( , from '' Hindū'' and ''-stān''), also sometimes spelt as Hindōstān ( ''Indo-land''), along with its shortened form ''Hind'' (), is the Persian-language name for the Indian subcontinent that later became commonly used by ...

in a 2–0 victory. He then scored his third goal of the campaign three days later on 23 March against

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large Bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Ou ...

. South United would go on to win 4–0. After the season, Kumar eventually joined

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible f ...

while also playing for

in the

Santosh Trophy The Santosh Trophy, officially known as Hero Senior Men's National Football Championship due to sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp, is a state football leagues in India, state-level association football, football competition contested by the L ...

Honours

HAL *

2012–13 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. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Vinoth 1994 births Living people People from Karnataka Indian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC players South United FC players Bangalore Super Division players I-League players I-League 2nd Division players Santosh Trophy players Footballers from Karnataka