Delhi-based teenager becomes the first Indian to be signed by a Spanish football club.
Club Deportivo San Cristobal is not a name to be reckoned with in Spanish football. It is in the fifth tier of Spanish football league, but for 19-year-old Ankit Sharma it means the world. Delhi-based Sharma who plays for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in the I-League has been snapped up by San Cristobal for the 2011-12 season.
While the club might not be a household name, it is known to be a feeder to the bigger clubs in Spain. Spain and Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez, too, plied his trade at San Cristobal before being picked by the European powerhouse.
“It is an excellent opportunity for me to get international exposure and improve my game by playing under Spanish coaches,” says Sharma who started playing football at the age of 10 and joined DDA Football Academy in Delhi. He started off as a goalkeeper but turned into a striker two years ago. “I always thought I could play as a forward and luckily got a chance to do so. I haven’t looked back ever since,” he says.
While he played for the national youth teams in the U-14 and U-17 teams, his big chance came when HAL invited him for a trial. “I was injured the first time they called, so I was a bit disappointed,” he recalls. But HAL persisted with him and called him again a year later in 2009. This time Sharma impressed the coaches and was signed by HAL to play in the I-League. “The I-League has been a great experience for me. Playing with national-level players was an eye-opener,” he says.
Sharma grew up in Delhi and comes from a defence family. So discipline, he says, has been instilled in him from a very young age. Though his family isn’t too keen on sports, it has never discouraged him from playing football. “Football has been my passion for the last ten years, but it was only when I played for the U-14 team that I decided to give it a shot as a profession,” says Sharma who is currently doing his graduation in economics from Delhi University. The chance to move abroad was something he was hoping for and he made sure his contract with HAL had a clause which allowed him to leave if a foreign club came calling.
Sharma is not the only teenager who is moving to Europe to ply his trade. Mumbai-based Varin Mehta got a year-long contract with Belgium-based club Royal Antwerp FC. After Mohammed Salim (Celtic FC, 1937), Baichung Bhutia (FC Bury 1999-00), Sunil Chhetri (Kajsas City Wizards 2010) and Mehta, Sharma is the fifth Indian footballer to play for a foreign club.
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Playing in a foreign league far away from home doesn’t worry him at all. He is hoping that even if it is not a club in the top tier of Spanish football, it’s something that will encourage young footballers back home. “I am not hoping to be a star in Spain, but this is an ideal platform for me to showcase my talent,” he says.
Sharma stands to earn about €200,000-250,000 as per his contract, along with performance-linked incentives. The club might be unknown but Sharma’s Spanish sojourn is clearly a big step for young Indian footballers.