The Making Of A Player

The captain of the Indian football team gets honest about his training regime and what he does to keep fit.

- Pallavi Majumder

Sunil Chhetri is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Indian club Bangalore FC and the Indian national team. Popularly known as Captain Fantastic, he is both the most-capped player, and all-time top goal scorer for Indian national team. He is also the current captain of the national team.

How many times a day do you train?

As a team, we train once a day with a one day break in the week to recover. However, I do like spending time in the gym on days when we don’t have it too hard on the pitch.

How different is your training regime from the conventional methods of training?

Well, each one has methods and regimes that suit him or her. What works for me might not work for you. More importantly, what I need might completely differ from what you need. Training is really subjective. That said, it’s nice to keep up with what science brings to training.

What is your regular diet?

A lot of proteins and a lot of greens, to put it very broadly. A solid breakfast is the ideal base to build upon. I always throw in a glass of coconut water at some point in the day.

Do you mix and match your training methods each quarter?