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Vinit Rai
Personal information
Full name Vinit Rai Chamling
Date of birth (1997-10-10) 10 October 1997 (age 28)
Place of birth Duliajan, Assam, India
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
Mumbai City
Number 16
Youth career
2010–2014 Tata Football Academy
2014 Dempo
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2016 Dempo 2 (0)
2016–2017 Kerala Blasters 2 (0)
2017 → Minerva Punjab (loan) 4 (0)
2017–2023 Odisha 68 (1)
2021–2023 → Mumbai City (loan) 20 (2)
2023– Mumbai City 0 (0)
National team‡
2015–2019 India U23 7 (0)
2018– India 11 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:48, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:10, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Vinit Rai Chamling (born 10 October 1997) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Indian Super League club Mumbai City and the India national team.

Club career[edit | edit source]

Born in Duliajan, Assam, Rai was scouted by the Duliajan Football Academy and later by the Tata Football Academy at the age of 13 and trained there for four years.[2] After graduating from Tata, Rai signed with I-League side Dempo. On signing Rai, Dempo head coach at the time, Arthur Papas said "Vinit is a very cultured midfielder with a great range of passing. He has a willingness to always want the ball and link the play between the defensive and forward lines."[3] Rai would enter the 2014–15 season with Dempo as the youngest first-team player.[3] After spending a majority of the season playing for the club's youth team, Rai made his professional debut for Dempo in the league on 1 March 2015 against East Bengal. He came on as an 81st-minute substitute for Jewel Raja as Dempo lost 5–1.[4]

Kerala Blasters[edit | edit source]

After helping Dempo regain promotion to the I-League, Rai signed with Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters on 6 September 2016.[2] He made his debut for the team on 1 October 2016 against NorthEast United. He started the match and played 76 minutes as Kerala Blasters fell 1–0.[5]

Minerva Punjab[edit | edit source]

After the ISL 2016 season, Vinit Rai signed with Minerva FC and will make its debut in I-league this season.[6]

Odisha FC[edit | edit source]

Rai joined Odisha FC for the 2019–20 ISL season as a midfielder.[7] He also captained the team.

Loan to Mumbai City[edit | edit source]

In 2022, Rai was loaned out to Indian Super League defending champions Mumbai City from Odisha. He was later included in club's 2022 AFC Champions League squad.[8]

International[edit | edit source]

Rai made his debut for the India under-23 side on 27 March 2015 against Uzbekistan U23 in the 2016 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. He played 80 minutes as India U23 fell 2–0.[9] Almost a year later, Rai made his debut on the bench for the India senior side in their FIFA World Cup qualifier against Iran. He did not come off the bench though.[10] Rai, however, did make his unofficial debut for India in the team's unofficial friendly against Bhutan. He came on as a 64th minute for Rowllin Borges as India won 3–0.[11]

Career statistics[edit | edit source]

Club[edit | edit source]

As of 19 April 2023[12]
Club Season League Cup AFC Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Dempo 2014–15 I-League 2 0 0 0 — 2 0
Kerala Blasters 2016 Indian Super League 2 0 0 0 — 2 0
Minerva Punjab (loan) 2016–17 I-League 4 0 0 0 — 4 0
Odisha 2017–18 Indian Super League 13 0 1[lower-alpha 1] 0 — 14 0
2018–19 16 0 1[lower-alpha 1] 0 — 17 0
2019–20 15 1 0 0 — 15 1
2020–21 16 0 0 0 — 16 0
2021–22 8 0 0 0 — 8 0
Odisha total 68 1 2 0 0 0 70 1
Mumbai City (loan) 2021–22 Indian Super League 9 0 0 0 5[lower-alpha 2] 0 14 0
2022–23 11 2 8[lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 1] 0 — 19 2
Mumbai City 2023–24 Indian Super League 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
Mumbai City total 20 2 8 0 5 0 33 2
Career total 96 3 10 0 5 0 111 3
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Appearance(s) in Super Cup
  2. ↑ Appearance(s) in AFC Champions League
  3. ↑ Appearance(s) in Durand Cup

International[edit | edit source]

As of matches played till 19 November 2019[13][12]
National team Year Apps Goals
India 2018 6 0
2019 5 0
Total 11 0

Honours[edit | edit source]

Mumbai City

India

India U23

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "Vinit Rai profile - Goals, Passes and more". Indian Super League. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Kerala Blasters sign Vinit Rai". Arunfoot. 6 September 2016. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Young Players to watch out for in Dempo". The All India Football Federation. 12 August 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Dempo 1-5 East Bengal". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  5. ↑ "NorthEast United 1-0 Kerala Blasters". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 12 November 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  6. ↑ "Vinit Rai to play is trade for Minerva FC". Goalie365. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "Vinit Rai-profile". indiansuperleague.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  8. ↑ Guha, Sayantan (6 April 2022). "All you need to know about Mumbai City FC's AFC Champions League 2022 campaign". sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 6 April 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  9. ↑ "Uzbekistan U23 2-0 India U23". The Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  10. ↑ "Iran 4-0 India". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  11. ↑ "Bhutan 0-3 India". Soccerway. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Vinit Rai at Soccerway
  13. ↑ "Vinit Rai". national-football-teams.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  14. ↑ Narayan, Aaditya (19 September 2022). "Durand Cup 2022 review: The perfect curtain-raiser to the Indian football season". www.espn.in. Kolkata: ESPN. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.

External links[edit | edit source]