This article lists all the captains of the India national football team.
The first India captain in their maiden international tour was Gostha Pal, organised under the control of Indian Football Association (Bengal) before the formation of All India Football Federation in 1937. The first captain to lead India in their first AIFF organised international tour was Karuna Bhattacharya, who captained India in their first international match against Australia on 3 September 1938.
The following table includes players who have captained the India national football team, along with the vice-captains and the international tournaments they led in.
List of captains Bold indicates current captain Reserve captains include vice-captains and others who captained in place of the incumbent in international competitive matches and friendlies
TenureIncumbentReserve captainsTournaments/NotesRef.1933Gostha PalSanmatha Dutta,Karuna BhattacharyaAll India XI / IFA XIFirst All-India national team organised by IFA (Bengal)1934–1936Sanmatha DuttaAll India XI / IFA XI1938Karuna BhattacharyaFirst All-India national team organised by AIFF (India tour of Australia 1938)1948Talimeren Ao1948 Summer Olympics1949–1954Sailen MannaAhmed Khan1951 Asian Games, 1952 Colombo Cup, 1952 Summer Olympics, 1953 Colombo Cup, 1954 Colombo Cup, 1954 Asian Games19551958Sayed Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din1955 Colombo Cup,1958 Asian Games1956Samar BanerjeeNeville D'Souza, J. Krishnaswamy1956 Summer Olympics1959–1960Sheikh Abdul Latif1959 Merdeka Tournament1960–1961P. K. Banerjee1961 Merdeka Tournament, 1960 Summer Olympics1962–1964Chuni Goswami1962 Asian Games, 1964 AFC Asian Cup, 1964 Merdeka Tournament1965–1967Jarnail Singh1965 Merdeka Tournament, 1966 Merdeka Tournament, 1966 Asian Games, 1967 Merdeka Tournament1967–1968Arun Ghosh1968 Merdeka Tournament19691973Inder Singh1969 Merdeka Tournament,1973 Merdeka Tournament1970Syed Nayeemuddin1970 Merdeka Tournament, 1970 Asian Games1971Chandreshwar Prasad1971 Merdeka Tournament, 1971 Pesta Sukan Cup1971Arun Ghosh1972Mohammed Habib1974Magan Singh RajviRanjit Thapa1974 Merdeka Tournament, 1974 Asian Games1976–1977Pradip ChowdhuryGurdev Singh Gill1978Gurdev Singh Gill1978 Asian Games1980Prasun Banerjee A. Devraj Doraiswamy1981–1982Bhaskar Ganguly1981 Merdeka Tournament, 1982 Nehru Cup, 1982 President's Cup, 1982 Merdeka Tournament, 1982 Asian Games1982Shabbir Ali19821984Prasanta Banerjee1984 Nehru Cup1982Parminder Singh1982–1983Brahmanand Sankhwalkar1983 Nehru Cup1982Pem Dorji1982Biswajit Bhattacharya1982Monoranjan Bhattacharya1984–19861988–1989Sudip ChatterjeeBiswajit Bhattacharya,Tarun Dey1984 AFC Asian Cup, 1985 Nehru Cup, 1985 South Asian Games,1986 Merdeka Tournament, 1986 Asian Games,1988 Nehru Cup, 1989 South Asian Games1986Atanu BhattacharyaMauricio Afonso1986 Nehru Cup1987Abdul Majeed Kakroo1987 Nehru Cup1987Babu Mani1987 South Asian Games1989Mauricio Afonso1989 Nehru Cup1991Bikash Panji1991 Nehru Cup1992Krishanu Dey1993–1995V. P. Sathyan1993 Nehru Cup, 1993 SAARC Gold Cup, 1993 South Asian Games 1995 Nehru Cup, 1995 SAARC Gold Cup1995–199619971999Bruno Coutinho1995 South Asian Games, 1997 Nehru Cup,1999 SAFF Gold Cup199619981999I. M. Vijayan1998 Asian Games1997Carlton Chapman1997 SAFF Gold Cup199920012003Jo Paul Ancheri1999 South Asian Games,2001 Merdeka Tournament2000Roberto Fernandes2000–2011Bhaichung BhutiaI. M. Vijayan, Debjit Ghosh, Shanmugam Venkatesh,Renedy Singh, Climax Lawrence2005 SAFF Gold Cup, 2007 Nehru Cup, 2008 SAFF Championship, 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, 2009 Nehru Cup, 2011 AFC Asian Cup2001Basudeb Mondal2003Debjit Ghosh2003 SAFF Gold Cup2005Shanmugam Venkatesh2009Renedy Singh2011Climax Lawrence2011 SAFF Championship2015Subrata Pal2012–2024Sunil ChhetriGouramangi Singh,Gurpreet Singh Sandhu,Sandesh Jhingan,Rahul Bheke2012 AFC Challenge Cup, 2012 Nehru Cup, 2013 SAFF Championship, 2015 SAFF Championship, 2018 Intercontinental Cup, 2019 AFC Asian Cup, 2019 King's Cup, 2019 Intercontinental Cup, 2021 SAFF Championship, 2023 Tri-Nation Series2023 Intercontinental Cup, 2023 SAFF Championship2023 AFC Asian Cup201620232024–Gurpreet Singh SandhuRahul Bheke, Sandesh Jhingan2023 King's Cup, 2024 Intercontinental Cup,2025 CAFA Nations Cup20172025Sandesh JhinganSunil Chhetri, Rahul Bheke2017 Tri-Nation Series2018Subhasish Bose2018 SAFF Championship
Captains by major tournaments Bold indicates tournament winners Italics indicates tournament hosts PlayerTournament(s)Talimeren Ao 1948 Summer OlympicsSailen Manna 1951 Asian Games 1952 Summer Olympics 1954 Asian GamesSamar Banerjee 1956 Summer OlympicsSayed Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din 1958 Asian GamesP. K. Banerjee 1960 Summer OlympicsChuni Goswami 1962 Asian Games 1964 AFC Asian CupJarnail Singh 1966 Asian GamesSyed Nayeemuddin 1970 Asian GamesMagan Singh Rajvi 1974 Asian GamesGurdev Singh Gill 1978 Asian GamesBhaskar Ganguly 1982 Asian GamesSudip Chatterjee 1984 AFC Asian Cup 1986 Asian GamesI. M. Vijayan 1998 Asian GamesBhaichung Bhutia 2008 AFC Challenge Cup 2011 AFC Asian CupSunil Chhetri 2012 AFC Challenge Cup 2019 AFC Asian Cup 2023 AFC Asian Cup
References
External links Indian football international teams database (archived)