5 Indian footballers who were signed by overseas clubs

#2 Bhaichung Bhutia

Bhaichung Bhutia was the second Indian player to have signed a contract with an overseas club after he agreed to a 3-year contract with English club Bury F.C. He became the first Indian player to play a competitive game for an overseas club when he made his debut on 3rd October 1999 against Cardiff City. He went on to play 37 games for Bury F.C including a game against Manchester United, becoming the first Indian player to do that.

He netted 3 goals during his stay at Bury, becoming the first Indian-born player to score in the English league and the first Indian-born player to score in a European league.

He went on to play for 2 more overseas clubs: Malaysian club Perak FA on loan and Malaysian club Selangor MK Land. He played 8 games for Perak FA and netted 4 goals during his stay there. He played 5 games for Selangor and netted once for them.

Baichung Bhutia retired from football after the 2012-2013 season with United Sikkim. However, he had recently announced that he will be playing his one last season of football after signing with East Bengal, his former club.

He was known as the torchbearer of Indian Football because of his great contribution to Indian football, and was inducted into the AFC Hall of Fame on October 22nd 2014, the first Indian ever to achieve that honour.