VP Sathyan

VP Sathyan Biography

Vatta Parambath Sathyan is a former Indian professional footballer who played as a center back.

He was born on April 29, 1965, at Kannur, Kerala. He occasionally played the role of Defensive Midfielder and was a player that the back line could rely on. In 2018, an Indian biographical film Captain is being shot based on his life.

He was awarded the 1995 All India Football Federation (AIFF) player of the year. However, the former Indian Captain ended his life throwing himself in front of a suburban electric train at Pallavaram station, Chennai.

Background

As a teenager, he started his career at Spirited Youth Club and later moved to Lucky Star Club in 1983. In 1984, he was signed by the Kerala Police and started featuring in the playing XI regularly.

He had already represented Kerala at the Santosh Trophy a year back, but after donning the Police jersey, his talent was noticed by a wide range of football scouts.

In 1985, he attended the South Zone camp for Indian probables under Amar Bahadur.

Debut

Strongly built and a capable defender, he joined the national team going to the 1985 SAF Games in Dhaka due to the unavailability of star defenders Subrata Bhattacharya and Manoranjan Bhattacharya. P.K.Banerjee decided to gamble by playing an unknown 19-year old as a Defensive midfielder was a stroke of masterclass as he went on to dominate the game for a decade.

Rise to glory

In 1986, he scored a 35-yard screamer in India’s 4-3 win against South Korea in the Merdeka Cup. He was part of the squad in the 1986 Asian Games that finished first in the SAF Games in Calcutta.

He was instrumental in the team as Kerala Police won the Federation Cup twice, in 1989–90 and in 1990–91.

In 1991, Big clubs from Kolkata made offers that were too good to resist He went from the Kerala Police team to Kolkata where he spent two seasons, one in Mohammedan Sporting Club and another with the mighty Mohun Bagan.

After winning the AIFF player of the year in 1993, he returned to the Kerala Police.

Then moved to Indian Bank in after his retirement from the national team from 1995 to 2001 and then as the team's coach.

Club career

He started his career with the Lucky Star Club in 1983 before being traded to the Kerala Police in 1984.

He spent most of his career here and when the Kolkata clubs came calling, he spent a season with Mohammedan Sporting Club and one in Mohun Bagan. He then moved back to the Kerala Police in 1994 and made his final change in career for the Indian Bank Team.

Captaincy

After taking up the captaincy in 1991, He led the team in World Cup qualifiers in 1991, the Nehru Cup at Chennai in 1993, 1994 edition of Independence Cup at Doha. He also won the gold medal at the inaugural SAFF Cup in 1993 as the captain.

Retirement

He ended his International career with the Indian National team in 2995 after 10 glorious years for the Blue Tigers. He then spent time with the Chennai based Indian Bank Team and helped them achieve promotion to the top flight. He was later appointed as the Coach for the club in 2001 before being appointed as assistant coach for Indian National team in 2002.