Jeje Lalpekhlua

Jeje Lalpekhlua

Lalpekhlua in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Jeje Lalpekhlua Fanai
Date of birth	(1991-01-07) 7 January 1991
Place of birth	Hnahthial, Mizoram, India
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Club information
Current team	East Bengal
Number	12
Youth career
2007–2008	Pune
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2013	Pune	54	(16)
2010–2011	→ Pailan Arrows (loan)	15	(13)
2013–2014	Dempo	18	(5)
2014–2015	Mohun Bagan	12	(1)
2014	→ Chennaiyin (loan)	13	(4)
2015–2020	Chennaiyin	56	(19)
2016	→ Mohun Bagan (loan)	14	(4)
2017	→ Mohun Bagan (loan)	17	(5)
2020–	East Bengal	7	(1)
National team‡
2008–2009	India U19	2	(0)
2010–2011	India U23	13	(6)
2011–	India	56	(23)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 05:05, 16 June 2021 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 November 2019

Jeje Lalpekhlua (born 7 January 1991) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a central forward for the India national football team and SC East Bengal in the Indian Super League.

He is the second-highest Indian goalscorer in the Indian Super League since its inception, and he is the record highest goalscorer for Chennaiyin FC. In 2015, he won the I-league with Mohun Bagan and the Indian Super League with Chennaiyin, and was subsequently named the FPAI Football Player of the Year.

Career

Youth career

Born in the small village of Hnahthial in Mizoram, Lalpekhlua was born in a football fanatic family. His father and elder brother played for a local Mizoram club – The Model Sporting Club, while his uncle represented Mizoram in the Santosh Trophy. Lalpekhlua made his debut for the Model Sporting Club four months after his father had retired from the club.

Despite as initial hesitation from his parents in pursuing football professionally, Lalpekhlua came to light after a spectacular performance at the Wai Wai Cup held in Mizoram. On account of his strong performance, Lalpekhlua made it to the Mizoram U-19 team. He impressed youth coach Colm Toal at the U-19 selection camp in Gwalior and got selected for U19 qualifiers.

I-League

Pune

Jeje was spotted by the Pune FC scouts and he signed for the Red Lizards at the age of 16. Initially playing in their youth setup, Jeje would make his senior debut for Pune, who were then in the I-League 2nd Division, during the 2009 I-League 2nd Division season. The then 18-year old, scored against Sporting Goa on 17 October 2009 in a 2-2 draw, during the 2009–10 I-League season. He scored again in the same season against Chirag United in a 1-1 draw.

2010-11 season: Pailan Arrows (loan)

Lalpekhlua in Pailan training in 2011.

On 1 July 2010, Jeje signed for I-League newcomers Pailan Arrows on a one-year loan basis from parent club Pune for the 2010-11 I-League season. The Pailan Arrows team was only made up of Indian under-19 players. During the 2010 Indian Federation Cup, he scored 1 goal for Pailan Arrows in the two games he played. On 3 December 2010, Jeje took part in Pailan Arrows first I-League game, against Chirag United, in a 2-1 loss. On 8 December 2010, Lalpekhlua scored his first ever goal for Pailan Arrows against ONGC FC in a 1-1 draw. After that, Jeje went on a huge goal-scoring run and earned a lot of praise by many top AIFF personnel. On 13 March 2011, Jeje scored 4 goals against Air India in an I-League match which ended in a 5–2 win. He again scored 4 goals against Mohun Bagan in a thrilling 5-4 win, on 29 May which also was his last match for the club. He finished his stellar season with 13 goals in 15 appearances, also becoming the top-scoring Indian player of the season. On 26 September 2011, he won the FPAI Best Young Player Award for the 2010–11 season, beating out players like Raju Gaikwad and Lenny Rodrigues.

2011-12 season: Back to Pune

Lalpekhlua in 2011

On 7 July 2011, it was announced that Lalpekhlua was to return to his parent club Pune for the 2011-12 I-League season. Lalpekhlua made his first start and his first overall game for Pune since his return from Pailan Arrows, on 17 September 2011 during the Federation Cup group stage match against Dempo in a 2-1 win. Jeje then scored his second goal in the Federation Cup on 19 September 2011 against East Bengal at the Salt Lake Stadium in a 2-1 loss. Jeje started the 2011–12 I-League season as a regular starter for Pune. In the second game of the season he scored his first goal in the 78th minute to make the score a 1–2 against Sporting Goa, which ended 2–2 on 28 October 2011. Jeje continued his scoring form in the next match as he scored against Chirag United in what was Pune's first win of the season in a 3–1 win on 1 November 2011. He then scored another goal in the I-League against Dempo in the 26th minute on 19 November 2011. Despite the goal, Pune still lost the match 3–1. On 3 January 2012, Jeje came on as a substitute and scored in the 36th minute against Mohun Bagan in a 2-1 win, which also was his last goal of the season. He finished the season with 5 goals.

2012-13 season

Jeje scored his first goal of the season in the 51st minute, against now dissolved United Sikkim in the 2012 Indian Federation Cup in a 1-0 win, on 20 September 2012. Jeje then scored in the club's first game of the 2012-13 I-League season on 8 October 2012, in a 3-2 win against ONGC when he converted from the spot kick. He again scored 3 days after, against Mumbai in another 3-2 win. He made his final appearance for the club against Air India on 28 April 2012. He finished the I-League season with 5 goals in 19 appearances.

Dempo

On 15 June 2013, Jeje signed for Dempo on a two-year contract. Jeje made his debut for the Goan side during the 2013-14 I-League season, on 22 September 2013 against Shillong Lajong, in which he came on as a substitute for Mandar Rao Dessai in the 55th minute, as Dempo lost the match 3-0. He scored his first goal of the club, a week later, against Mumbai in a 1-1 draw. He scored his 5th and final goal for the club against his former club Pune, on 28 April 2014 in a 3-0 win.

Mohun Bagan

On 28 May 2014, it was announced that Jeje would sign a one-year deal with Mohun Bagan. On 11 August 2014, Jeje scored in his debut, in the 41st minute by earning and converting a penalty, in what proved to be the only goal in a 1–0 win in a match against Tollygunge Agragami in the Calcutta Football League. On 11 August 2014, Jeje scored in his debut, in the 41st minute by earning and converting a penalty, in what proved to be the only goal in a 1–0 win in a match against Tollygunge Agragami in the Calcutta Football League.

Chennaiyin (loan)

In 1 September 2014, Jeje was loaned out to Chennaiyin for the inaugural 2014 ISL season by Mohun Bagan. On 15 October 2014, Jeje made his debut for the club against Goa, coming on as a substitute for Balwant Singh in the 80th minute. He scored his first goal for the club on 28 October 2014, against Mumbai City in the 26th minute in a thumping 5-1 win. On 16 December 2014, Jeje scored a crucial goal for Chennaiyin against Kerala Blasters in the 2nd leg semi-final playoffs, which took the game to extra time, but they unfortunately lost the game in the extra time period due to a 117th minute goal from [[Stephen Pearson ]]. He finished the season with 4 goals in 13 appearances, which also made him the top-scoring Indian of the season.

Return to Mohun Bagan

On 31 December 2014, Jeje returned to his parent club Mohun Bagan after his loan spell with Chennaiyin for the 2014–15 I-League season. On 28 January 2015, he made his I-League debut for Mohun Bagan against Salgaocar, coming on a substitute for Balwant Singh in the 76th minute in a 0-0 draw. He scored his only goal of the 2014-15 I-League season against his former club Pune on 25 April 2015 in a 2-0 win.

Chennaiyin

Jeje was retained by Chennaiyin for the 2015 Indian Super League season. He scored his first goal of the season in the opening match on 3 October 2015, against defending champions ATK in a 3-2 loss. He scored his first career ISL brace against then ISL club Delhi Dynamos on 24 November 2015 in a 4-0 thrashing. He also scored in the 1st leg of the semi-final playoffs against ATK on 12 December 2015 in a 3-0 win. He played in the 2015 Indian Super League Final on 20 December 2015, winning the 2015 ISL title for the first time. He finished the season with 6 goals and 3 assists in 11 appearances. He was also chosen as the Emerging Player of the Season.

Mohun Bagan (loan)

On 8 January 2016, Jeje was loaned to Mohun Bagan by parent club Chennaiyin for the 2015-16 I-League campaign. On his return, he scored his first goal against Tampines Rovers in the preliminary round of the qualifying stage for the 2016 AFC Champions League group stage, which ended in a 3-1 win. He then scored his first league goal of the season on 13 February 2016, against eventual champions Bengaluru in a 2-0 win. On 24 February 2016, Jeje scored a brace against Maziya in the 2016 AFC Cup group stage match, in a 5-2 drubbing. He again scored a brace against Yangon United in the 2016 AFC Cup group stage match, on 16 March 2016, in a thrilling 3-2 win. He finished the 2015-16 I-League season with 4 goals in 14 appearances, finishing runner-up to Bengaluru in the process. He also had a productive AFC Cup campaign, chipping in with 6 goals in 7 appearances. He started the 2015–16 Indian Federation Cup campaign by scoring a brace against Salgaocar in the quarter-final 1st leg 3-2 win. He then scored a hat-trick against Shillong Lajong in the semi-final 1st leg 5-0 drubbing, on 8 May 2016. On 21 May 2016, he capped off his exceptional season with Mohun Bagan, by scoring in the final against Aizawl and winning his first Federation Cup trophy. He was adjudged as the top goal-scorer of the 2015-16 Indian Federation Cup campaign with 8 strikes. He was named as the Best Indian Player by his fellow professionals for his stupendous 2016-17 season.

Chennaiyin

Lalpekhlua started the first match of the 2016 Indian Super League season away from home against Kolkata, providing an assist in a match that ended 2–2. He scored his first goal of the season against Pune from a long ball from Jerry which he lobbed above Pune goalkeeper Edel.

International

File:Jeje with India.jpg

Lalpekhlua playing for India

Lalpekhlua (No 10) in action against Afghanistan in 2011

On 23 February 2011 Lalpekhlua played his first game and scored his first goal for the Indian U-23 team in the 2–1 victory over the Myanmar U-23 team. On 21 March 2011, Lalpekhlua made his debut for the senior India national football team in the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualification against Chinese Taipei and scored a goal. On 23 March 2011, Lalpekhlua scored two more goals in his second match for the Indian national football team against Pakistan in another AFC Challenge Cup Qualification match. On 25 March he scored 4th goal of his international career against Turkmenistan which helped India tie the match. During India's second leg of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers against the United Arab Emirates on 28 July 2011, Lalpekhlua scored a goal to help India to a 2–2 draw at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi, India but India still were knocked-out 5–2 on aggregate after losing the away leg 3–0. Then on 16 November 2011, Lalpekhlua scored in the 47th minute for India against Malaysia in a Friendly played at the Salt Lake Stadium. The match ended 3–2 in favour of India. After impressing in a trial with Rangers of Scotland, Lalpekhlua participated in his first competitive tournament, the SAFF Cup and started the first match of the tournament against Afghanistan on 3 December 2011. He then scored his first goal of the tournament on 7 December 2011 against Sri Lanka. Then he followed it up by scoring his second goal of the tournament in the Final as India managed to beat Afghanistan 4–0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on 11 December 2011. He played a sensational game against Lebanon U22 and scored brace in that match, he came up in 65min from the bench. He scored his 10th and 11th goal against Maldives in the Saff Cup semifinals. He recently scored a goal against Puerto Rico in an International friendly played in Mumbai, making it 7 goals in his last 7 games for the Indian National side. He scored only goal for India against Kyrgyzstan on 27 March 2018 but later his goal proved to be just a consolation goal for INDIA since India lost 2-1 to Kyrgyzstan in their last Asian cup qualifier game.

He scored the only goal in a win against Afghanistan in the SAFF Cup group stage match in Bangladesh. He led the Indian U19 team to the South Asian games in Sri Lanka. In the last group stage match he scored a hat-trick against Pakistan in a 5–1 win. He also scored four goals in his first three senior appearances for the India national football team. He also played a crucial role in India's 2011 SAFF Cup championship victory. In the 2015 SAFF Cup, he scored 3 goals, including an equalizer in the final as India won 2–1 after extra time.

Career stats

Club

Statistics accurate as of 27 February 2021

Club	Season	League			Federation Cup/Super Cup		Durand Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Pune	2009	I-League 2nd Division	2	3	0	0	0	0	–	–	2	3
	2009–10	I-League	17	2	0	0	0	0	–	–	17	2
	2011–12		16	5	2	2	0	0	–	–	18	7
	2012–13		19	5	3	1	2	1	–	–	24	7
	Pune Total		54	15	5	3	2	1	0	0	61	19
Pailan Arrows (loan)	2010–11	I-League	15	13	1	1	0	0	–	–	16	14
Dempo	2013–14		18	5	2	0	0	0	–	–	20	5
Chennaiyin (loan)	2014	Indian Super League	13	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	13	4
Chennaiyin	2015		11	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	11	6
	2016		9	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	9	3
	2017–18		20	9	1	0	–	–	–	–	21	9
	2018–19		16	1	4	1	–	–	5	1	25	3
	2019–20		0	0	0	0	–	–	0	0	0	0
	Chennaiyin Total		69	23	5	1	0	0	5	1	79	25
Mohun Bagan	2014–15	I-League	12	1	4	0	0	0	–	–	16	1
Mohun Bagan (loan)	2015–16		14	4	5	8	–	–	9	7	28	19
	2016–17		17	5	5	1	–	–	9	5	31	11
	Mohun Bagan Total		43	10	14	9	0	0	18	12	75	31
East Bengal	2020–21	Indian Super League	7	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	7	1
Career Total			206	67	27	14	2	1	23	13	258	95

International statistics

As of 14 January 2019

India national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2011	15	8
2012	0	0
2013	6	0
2014	0	0
2015	10	3
2016	6	5
2017	9	4
2018	7	2
2019	3	1
Total	56	23

International goals

As of 6 January 2019

Under–23

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	5 December 2009	Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh	Afghanistan	1–0	1–0	2009 SAFF Championship
2.	23 February 2011	Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune, India	Myanmar U23	4–2	5–2	2012 Olympics Qualifier
3.	19 June 2011	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Qatar U23	1–0	1–3	2012 Olympics Qualifier
4.	23 June 2012	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat, Oman	Lebanon U23	4–2	5–2	2013 AFC U-22 Asian Cup Qualifier
5.	23 June 2012	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat, Oman	Lebanon U23	5–2	5–2	2013 AFC U-22 Asian Cup Qualifier
6.	30 June 2012	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat, Oman	Turkmenistan U23	4–1	4–1	2013 AFC U-22 Asian Cup Qualifier

Senior team

Scores and results list India's goal tally first.

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	21 March 2011	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Chinese Taipei	1–0	3–0	2012 AFC Challenge Cup
2	23 March 2011	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Pakistan	1–1	3–1	2012 AFC Challenge Cup
3				3–1
4	25 March 2011	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Turkmenistan	1–1	1–1	2012 AFC Challenge Cup
5	28 July 2011	Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi, India	United Arab Emirates	1–2	2–2	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
6	16 November 2011	Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, India	Malaysia	2–1	2–2	Friendly
7	7 December 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi, India	Sri Lanka	1–0	3–0	2011 SAFF Championship
8	11 December 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi, India	Afghanistan	3–0	4–0	2011 SAFF Championship
9	8 August 2015	Köpetdag Stadium, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan	Turkmenistan	1–1	1–2	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
10	31 December 2015	Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, India	Maldives	2–0	3–2	2015 SAFF Championship
11				3–1
12	3 January 2016	Trivandrum International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, India	Afghanistan	1–1	2–1 Template:Aet	2015 SAFF Championship
13	2 June 2016	New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos	Laos	1–0	1–0	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
14	7 June 2016	Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati, India	Laos	1–1	6–1	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
15				4–1
16	3 September 2016	Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai, India	Puerto Rico	3–1	4–1	Friendly
17	22 March 2017	Phnom Penh Olympic Stadium, Phnom Penh, Cambodia	Template:Country data CAM	2–1	3–2	Friendly
18	6 June 2017	Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai, India	Nepal	2–0	2–0	Friendly
19	10 October 2017	Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore, India	Macau	4–1	4–1	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
20	14 November 2017	Fatorda Stadium, Margao, India	Myanmar	2–2	2–2	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
21	27 March 2018	Dolen Omurzakov Stadium, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan	Kyrgyzstan	1–2	1–2	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
22	4 June 2018	Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai, India	Kenya	2–0	3–0	2018 Intercontinental Cup
23	6 January 2019	Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	Thailand	4–1	4–1	2019 AFC Asian Cup

Unofficial international goal

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1	13 August 2016	Changlimithang Stadium, Thimphu, Bhutan	Bhutan	0–2	0–3

Honours

International

India

• SAFF Cup (3): 2009, 2011, 2015
• Intercontinental Cup: 2018

Club

Mohun Bagan

• I-League: 2014–15
• Federation Cup: 2015–16

Chennaiyin

• Indian Super League: 2015
• Indian Super League: 2017-18

Individual

• FPAI Best Young Player Award: 2010–11
• AIFF Emerging Player of the Year: 2013
• Indian Super League Emerging Player of the League: 2015
• Federation Cup Top Goalscorer: 2015–16
• Federation Cup Best Player: 2015–16
• FPAI Indian Player of the Year: 2015–16
• AIFF Player of the Year: 2016
• Indian Super League Fans' Player of the Month: December 2017

External links

• Jeje Lalpekhlua at National-Football-Teams.com
• goal.com
• Jeje Lalpekhlua at Soccerway