Nikhil Poojary
Indian footballer
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Nikhil Chandra Shekhar Poojary (born 3 September 1995) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a right-back or winger for Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team.
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nikhil Chandra Shekhar Poojary[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 3 September 1995 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Mangaluru, Karnataka, India | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Positions | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Bengaluru | |||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 27 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Ryan FC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dodsal | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Mumbai | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | East Bengal | 14 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Pune City | 9 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2019–2024 | Hyderabad | 79 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Bengaluru | 27 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | India U23 | 5 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2017– | India | 33 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 23:43, 7 February 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 22:00, 9 June 2026 (UTC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Club career
Born in Mangalore, Karnataka Poojary started his career with Ryan FC in Mumbai.[2] While with Ryan FC, Poojary was selected to play for the Maharashtra under-19 side in the school games nationals.[3] Poojary soon joined the youth side of Mumbai before signing with Kolkata giants East Bengal in 2015.
Poojary made his first-team debut for East Bengal on 4 August 2016 in their opening Calcutta Football League fixture against Bhawanipore. He came on as a 78th-minute substitute for Jiten Murmu as East Bengal won 2–1.[4] Poojary scored his first goal for the club on 23 September 2016 during the group stage match of the Bordoloi Trophy against Bongobi Agragami of Bangladesh. His strike in the 87th minute was the last goal in a 6–0 victory.[5]
On September 19, 2024, Poojary made his 100th appearance in Indian Super League, making him 48th overall and 38th Indian player to achieve this mark.
Bengaluru FC
After leaving Hyderabad he joined another Indian Super League side Bengaluru FC.
International career
He scored his first international goal against Maldives in the 2018 SAFF Championship.
Career statistics
Club
- As of 21 March 2024[6]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | AFC | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| East Bengal | 2016–17 | I-League | 14 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | — | 6[b] | 1[c] | 22 | 1 | |
| 2017–18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2[d] | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Total | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 24 | 2 | ||
| Pune City | 2018–19 | Indian Super League | 9 | 1 | 2[e] | 0 | — | — | 11 | 1 | ||
| Hyderabad | 2019–20 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 18 | 0 | |||
| 2020–21 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 0 | ||||
| 2021–22 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 1 | ||||
| 2022–23 | 21 | 0 | 7[f] | 0 | — | — | 29 | 0 | ||||
| 2023–24 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 11 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 79 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 1 | ||
| Bengaluru | 2023–24 | Indian Super League | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 7 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 109 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 128 | 3 | ||
- Appearances in Federation Cup
- 4 Appearances in Calcutta Football League and 2 Appearances in Bordoloi Trophy
- Goal in Calcutta Football League
- Appearances in Calcutta Football League
- 5 Appearances in Durand Cup and 2 Appearances in Super Cup
International
- As of 9 June 2026[7]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | 2017 | 2 | 0 |
| 2018 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 13 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2025 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2026 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 33 | 1 | |
International goals
- Scores and results list India's goal tally first
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 September 2018 | Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh | 4 |  Maldives | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2018 SAFF Championship | [8] |
Honours
India
Hyderabad
