Anirudh Thapa

Anirudh Thapa is a professional footballer of Indian nationality; he maintains the midfielder position in both National Team and Chennaiyin FC. Born to Nepali parents in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Thapa started playing football in his school days inspired by his father and elder brother, both of whom were sportsmen.

What started out as a pastime soon turned into a full-blown passion for the game when he was 10-years old, the same year he started playing for his school team at St. Stephen’s school in Chandigarh. After an initial stint with India’s U-14 side, he joined the AIFF regional academy at Kalyani, West Bengal in 2012.

The same year, he was a part of India’s U-15 team. As his skills improved, he went up the rankings ladder for national youth teams. Hence he transferred to AIFF Elite Academy in Goa, making him the only player from Uttarakhand to ever make it to the team.

In 2013, he joined the U-16 team that won that year’s SAFF U-16 championship. The same year, he participated in the AFC U-16 championship where he bagged one goal in four matches he played. In 2014, he went to Malaysia to take part in the Asia U-16 Championship.

The following year was a lucky one for Thapa, as the midfielder made it to India’s U-19 team, making him the youngest member. The team was the runners-up that year at the SAFF U-19 championship, where he scored two goals in four matches. The same year, he captained the AIFF Elite Academy Team to a win at the U-19 I-league of the 2015-16 season, where he played 14 games and bagged three goals.

In April of 2016, he was one of the five young footballers from India who joined French Ligue 2 side Metz on short training, sponsored by ISL giants Chennaiyin FC. In November of the same year, he debuted professionally at the ISL. Thapa replaced Dhanachandra Singh for Chennaiyin FC’s final match of the season, due to an injury that ruled out the latter's participation for the rest of the ISL season.

He played for 67 minutes in the match since the start, where he almost scored his first goal, but later it turned out to be Own Goal. At the end of the ISL season, he was on loan by the FC to Minerva Punjab of the I-League for the 2016-17 season. For the 2017-18 season, he continued to be a regular with Chennaiyin FC, playing 16 matches.

At the season’s conclusion, he secured the Emerging Player of the Year award from the AIFF. He had his senior team debut at the Intercontinental Championship this year, and the National Team coach Stephan Constantine was all praises for him. Currently, Thapa is with his U-23 squad at the national camp undergoing training before a few friendly matches ahead of the Asia Cup, his eyes set on getting a spot in the team for Asia Cup 2019.