Taking centre stage as the guest of honour at the Man of the Match ceremony following Sunday’s Kolkata derby, Bhaichung Bhutia looked as dapper as ever.
Bhutia, now into politics, post the hanging up of his football boots, played for both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan during his career. It was with East Bengal, though, where he wrote much of his legacy with four separate spells there netting him 52 out of his 100 goals at club level.
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Of course, this is even before we get into his exertions at the national level with the Indian team, where for much of his 16 years as an international, he was the spearhead for the team, scoring 40 goals in 104 appearances.
Beyond the numbers, though, the name 'Bhutia’ inextricably provided the people's link to Indian football. He was the face of the sport in the country, it's most famous and well-known practitioner and he brought about an uptick in the sport's following, doing much to increase Indian football’s popularity in his time.
“Bhutia is God's gift to Indian football. As a player and leader, his contribution is immense. He is the best in my book and I think it will be a long time before a player of his stature is found again," were the words of Indian stalwart I. M. Vijayan about the man from Sikkim when he became the first to make 100 appearances for India during the 2009 Nehru Cup.
A player of that stature had already been found, however. And what was once Bhutia’s is now his - the records, the fame, the expectations, the burden. Everything.
Sunil Chhetri’s Bengaluru FC continued to stutter in the 2017 I-League as they only managed a 1-1 draw away at Aizawl FC in their most recent match on Wednesday. Their lone goal was scored by Chhetri, a belter of a goal at that. His celebration may have been non-existent in the context of the match as he was keen to keep going and try and earn a win, but in the larger scheme of things, it took him one past Bhutia’s all-time record in Indian league football.
Now at 90 to his compatriot’s 89, it's the latest Bhutia milestone that Chhetri has scaled, further fulfilling a legacy that saw him pick up the baton and run from where Bhutia left off. Chhetri had already eclipsed Bhaichung’s goal tally for the Indian national team.
There are similarities and differences between the two when it comes to aspects of their game, but what ties them together is the role they've played as a figurehead in Indian football in their respective times.
Bhutia came through at a time when football in India needed a pickup. Chhetri, meanwhile, picked up from the table that Bhutia had set up and carried it forward, helping in increasing the popularity of the game to a level it probably never has been before.
One could say that Bhutia was isolated in the sense that he never played with the kind of consistent talent that Chhetri has found around him, a direct result of the progression in the Indian football setup itself.
As is wont to happen when such illustrious personalities write their names into the record books, the debate of who was better does crop up.
| Bhaichung Bhutia | Sunil Chhetri | |
| International caps | 104 | 91 |
| International goals | 40 | 51 |
| Trophies with Indian team | Nehru Cup (2007), SAFF Championship (1997, 1999, 2005), AFC Challenge Cup (2008) | Nehru Cup (2007, 2009, 2012), AFC Challenge Cup (2008), SAFF Championship (2011, 2016) |
| Goals in Indian league football (NFL/I-League) | 89 | 90 |
| NFL/I-League titles | 2009-10 with Dempo, 2012-13 with Churchill Brothers, 2013-14 & 2015-16 with Bengaluru FC | 1996-97 with JCT Mills & 2003-04 with East Bengal |
The numbers, of course, will favour Chhetri and as someone who is still only 32, and looking like he has a good three years still in him at least, the current Bengaluru skipper is likely to extend his lead further in each of these categories.
One must remember that Bhutia suffered physically after crossing the age of 30 which meant that his final years at club level turned out to be not so memorable. Chhetri, on the other hand, has been in pretty decent touch despite a somewhat ordinary year.
Also, he continues to play for one of the top teams in the league in Bengaluru which will surely see him add to his numbers. The Indian national team, where he is still a regular, is also likely to continue to yield him sizable returns with the talent level in the current squad as well as those rising up the ranks.
In terms of trophies, the Bengaluru FC man has four national league titles to Bhutia’s two while both have won the Federation Cup once. Bhutia, however, has a continental honour to his name, having played a starring role in East Bengal's run to the ASEAN Club Championship in 2003. Chhetri got to the AFC Cup final last year with Bengaluru, but ended up falling short to Air Force Club from Iraq (Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya).
At the international level, Chhetri has won the SAFF Championship twice while Bhutia has been a winner three times.
Chhetri started playing for India in 2005, a time when Bhutia was still around and still very good. This period, where their careers intertwined, with the two of them even leading the line together, saw them pick up two trophies – the 2007 Nehru Cup and the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup.
Both pursued stints abroad at club level. Bhutia went to English side Bury in 1999 where he spent two seasons with limited appearances. However, he made history with this move becoming the first Indian footballer to sign with a European club. He later turned out for Malaysian sides Perak FA (on loan from East Bengal) in 2003 and Selangor MK Land in 2005 – both brief and unfruitful spells.
Chhetri has been to Portugal with Sporting Lisbon in 2012 where he turned out three times for their reserve side. Earlier in 2010, he had a trial with MLS side Kansas City Wizards in the United States during which he didn't play a single league game and returned prematurely.
His most unfortunate attempt came a year later in 2009 where it was announced that he'd signed a deal with Queens Park Rangers, only to be denied a work permit because of India's very low FIFA ranking at the time.
As one sifts through all of the empirical data, one might award a few points more to one corner on one count and to another on a different count, much like a boxing match, but what is clear is the impact they've had (in Chhetri’s case, continues to have). Each of them has set up the scene in Indian football for something more at the next go-around.
For now, strictly as far as the numbers go, Chhetri has caught up and overtaken Bhutia, both at the league level and at the national level. Rather than looking at it as a case of one great usurping another great, it should be merely acknowledged as a milestone in the continuation of a legacy, one that was passed on from Bhutia to Chhetri - that of being the 'poster boy’ and lead man of Indian football in order to lead it into a new and better future.
