Raju Gaikwad

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Raju Gaikwad
Personal information
Full name Raju Eknath Gaikwad
Date of birth (1990-09-25) 25 September 1990 (age 35)
Place of birth Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
East Bengal
Youth career
Tata Football Academy
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2011 Pailan Arrows 14 (1)
2011–2015 East Bengal 64 (3)
2014Mumbai City (loan) 3 (0)
2015–2017 Goa 23 (0)
2016Mohun Bagan (loan) 8 (0)
2017Mohun Bagan (loan) 6 (0)
2017–18 Mumbai City 15 (0)
2018-2019 Jamshedpur 5 (1)
2019–2020 Kerala Blasters 12 (0)
2021- East Bengal 7 (0)
National team
2011–2013 India U23 4 (0)
2011– India 23 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:49, 2 January 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:18, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Raju Eknath Gaikwad (born 25 September 1990) is an Indian footballer who plays as a defender for SC East Bengal in the Indian Super League. Gaikwad primarily plays as a centre back, but can also play as a full back and is a long throw specialist.

Career[edit]

Pailan Arrows[edit]

After spending time at Tata Football Academy Gaikwad signed for Pailan Arrows (then AIFF XI) in the I-League. He made his league debut for the club on 3 December 2010 against Prayag United at the Salt Lake Stadium which was also Pailan Arrows's first ever game in the I-League; Pailan lost 2–1.[1]

East Bengal[edit]

In July 2011 Gaikwad signed for East Bengal after one season at Pailan and made his debut for the club on 4 February 2012 after missing the first few months of the season through injury.[2]

Mohun Bagan A.C.[edit]

In June 2015 Gaikwad signed for Mohun Bagan from rival club East Bengal.[3]

Kerala Blasters[edit]

Kerala Blasters signed Raju as a replacement for Sandesh Jhingan in the 2019-20 ISL season.[4]

International[edit]

Gaikwad made his debut for the India U23 on 23 February 2011 against Myanmar's U23s in the 2012 Olympic Qualifiers; India U23 won 2–1.[5] He then made his senior debut for India on 21 March 2011 in the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers against Chinese Tapei at the MBPJ Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia; India won 3–0.[6] Gaikwad then won his first championship with India on 11 December 2011 when he helped India beat Afghanistan in the 2011 SAFF Cup.[7] Gaikwad then went on to lead India to win the 2012 Nehru Cup when India managed to beat Cameroon's B team on 2 September 2012 at the Nehru Stadium in the Indian capital, Delhi.[8]

Career statistics[edit]

Club[edit]

Statistics accurate as of 31 August 2021[9]

Club Season Division League Federation Cup Others AFC Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Pailan Arrows 2010–11 I-League 14 0 1 0 0 0 15 0
East Bengal 2011–12 I-League 5 0 3 0 2[lower-alpha 1] 0 2 0 12 0
2012–13 I-League 9 0 2 0 6[lower-alpha 1] 1 3 0 20 1
2013–14 I-League 17 0 3 0 9[lower-alpha 2] 0 29 0
2014–15 I-League 0 0 2 0 3[lower-alpha 1] 0 4 0 9 0
East Bengal Total 31 0 10 0 20 1 9 0 70 1
Mumbai City (loan) 2014 Indian Super League 3 0 3 0
Mohun Bagan 2015–16 I-League 8 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 8 0
FC Goa (loan) 2015 Indian Super League 14 0 14 0
Mumbai City 2017–18 Indian Super League 15 0 2 17 0
Jamshedpur FC 2018–19 Indian Super League 5 0 0 5 0
Kerala Blasters FC 2019–20 Indian Super League 12 0 12 0
East Bengal 2020–21 Indian Super League 7 0 7 0
2021–22 Indian Super League 0 0 0 0
East Bengal Total 7 0 7 0
Career total 109 0 13 0 21 1 11 0 154 1
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Appearances in Calcutta Premier Division.
  2. 4 Apps in Calcutta Premier Division and 5 Apps in 2012 IFA Shield.

National team statistics[edit]

Statistics accurate as of 6 May 2015[10]

India national team
Year Apps Goals
2011 9 0
2012 8 0
2013 4 0
2014 2 0
Total 23 0

Honours[edit]

East Bengal
Mohun Bagan

References[edit]

  1. Sengupta, Rahul. "I-League: Three Points For Chirag As AIFF XI Rue Missed Opportunities". Goal.com. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  2. Lahiri, Debjit. "East Bengal 1-1 Mohun Bagan – Odafa's Solo Effort Rescues A Point For The Mariners". Goal.com. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  3. "kolkatafootball.com|afc cup 2021|afc hampions league 2021|indian football transfer news 2020|Indian live football". kolkatafootball.com.
  4. Sportstar, Team. "ISL 2019-20: Raju Gaikwad joins Kerala Blasters". Sportstar. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  5. "India U23 2-1 Myanmar". The Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  6. "India 3-0 Chinese Tapai". Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  7. Bali, Rahul. "India 4-0 Afghanistan: The Men In Blue Successfully Defend Their SAFF Championship Title". Goal.com. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  8. "India beat Cameroon to win third successive Nehru Cup title". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  9. "India - R. Gaikwad - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com.
  10. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Raju Gaikwad". www.national-football-teams.com.