Sunil Chhetri announces retirement from the national team; to play his final game for India against Kuwait in WC Qualifiers

After 19 years of history-defining service to the country, skipper Sunil Chhetri on Thursday, May 16, announced he will retire from the Indian men's national team after the FIFA World Cup Qualifier match against Kuwait in June.

The footballing icon posted a video on his official social media handles to announce the decision.

"I have never thought, individually, these are the many games I have played for my country, this is what I have done good or bad. But now I did it. This last one and a half, two months I did it. And it was really strange. I did it because probably I was going towards the decision that this game, this next game was going to be my last. The moment I told myself first that ‘Yes, this game is going to be my last,’ is when I started recollecting everything, it was so strange," the 40-year-old forward narrated.

Through the video, Sunil Chhetri revealed his emotions as he decided to hang up his boots and bring the curtain down on a stellar international career, entailing a record-break tally of 94 goals.

"So when I did decide that this was it, this was going to be my last game, I told my mom, my dad, and my wife, my family first. My dad was my dad, he was normal, relieved, happy, and everything but my mom and my wife started crying. I told them, 'You always used to bug me that there's too much pressure when you watch me.' Now that I'm telling you I’m not going to play for my country after this next game, even they couldn’t express to me why they burst into tears," he stated.

"It's not that I was feeling tired, or I was feeling this or that, but when the instinct came that it should be my last game, and I thought about it a lot, and eventually I came to this after this," the seven-time AIFF Player of the Year added.

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"Will I be sad after this? Of course!" - Sunil Chhetri on his decision to retire from the Indian national team

Sunil Chhetri made his senior international debut at the age of 19 against Pakistan in June 2005 and went on to score his maiden goal for the country that night. Since then, the 'Asian icon' went on to represent the Blue Tigers for close to two decades and make 150 appearances for the country.

The Kuwait match will be the last dance for the Padma Shri awardee, with the carrot of an unprecedented entry to the third record of World Cup Qualifications dangling in front of him and India.

On the game and the preparations that are already underway, Chhetri said:

“Every training that I do with the national team, I’m just going to enjoy it. I don’t feel that pressure. The game demands pressure. Against Kuwait, we need the three points to qualify for the third round. But in a strange way, I don’t feel the pressure."

But for Chhetri, the decision to retire wasn't easy to take, and he reflected on how it often makes him feel.

“Will I be sad after this? Of course! Do I feel sad sometimes every day because of this? Yes!” he added in the video.