Sunil Chhetri Becomes Joint All-Time Leading Goalscorer in ISL History With Brace for Bengaluru FC

Another day, another record broken by Sunil Chhetri, as the legendary Indian striker became the ISL’s all-time leading scorer with his sensational brace in Bengaluru FC’s 3-0 win over Hyderabad FC on Thursday.

Rahul Bheke, one of Bengaluru FC’s notable summer acquisitions, calmly slotted the ball past Hyderabad FC goalkeeper Arshdeep Singh with his side foot to open the scoring for Bengaluru within 5 minutes of the game’s beginning.

Coming off the bench in the 57th minute, Chhetri bagged a brace to become the joint-highest goal-scorer in the ISL, level with Bartholomew Ogbeche on 63 goals.

Chhetri played a pivotal role in the second half, completing all nine of his attempted passes, scoring twice, and creating one goal-scoring opportunity, as Bengaluru breezed to an easy 3-0 win over Hyderabad.

Chhetri is a seven-time AIFF Player of the Year winner. He represented the USA’s Major League Soccer (MLS) team Kansas City Wizards in 2010 and played for the reserve team of Sporting CP in the Portuguese football league two years later. With this, he became the first Indian footballer to feature on multiple continents.

In the domestic circuit, Chhetri played for powerhouses like East Bengal (2008-2009), Dempo (2009-2010), Mumbai City FC (2015-2016) and Bengaluru FC.

In international football, Chhetri guided India to innumerable titles. He won the Nehru Cup (2007, 2009, 2012) and the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship in 2011, 2015 and 2021). He also represented India at the AFC Asian Cup.

His illustrious international career and an era of Indian football came to an end on a bitter note, as India slumped to a dismal 0-0 draw against Kuwait in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier in Kolkata earlier this year in June.