Uttam Rai

Uttam Rai is an Indian footballer who plays as a striker for the IMG Soccer Academy inFlorida, United States and for the India national under-16 football team. In 2007 Uttam joined the Namchi Football Academy, under the Search for More Bhaichungs program, in which he played in the Subroto Cup for two years. His stat highlight of the tournament was when he scored four goals in only 35 minutes against Sri Vyas Vidya Mandir, a game Namchi won 13–0. Uttam played in the Subroto Cup for three seasons scoring 32 goals. He was then selected for the Subroto XI team which would tour Europe. After coming back to India, Uttam was selected for the India team to play in the Tata Tea Jago Re tournament and travelled with an U16 squad to play some matches and train in Arsenal Academy. In 2010 Uttam gained a selection to join the IMG Soccer Academy in Bradenton, Florida, United States with 14 other players from the India U16s. One year later after scoring six goals in only four games during the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship qualification Uttam\'s profile was named as one of the Top 10 Players To Watch Out For during the 2012 Dallas Cup. Uttam made his country debut at the under-14 level for India in 2010 during the AFC U14 Football Festival. He then made his debut for the India U16 on 1 October 2011 in the first match of the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship qualification against Kyrgyzstan and marked it off as he scored 5 goals during that match. Rai then scored again for the India U16s against Tajikistan on 7 October 2011 as India qualified for the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship.