| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1998-07-30)30 July 1998 (age 26) | ||
| Place of birth | Mizoram, India | ||
| Height | 1.67 m (5 ft5+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Left back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Odisha | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Bethlehem Vengthlang | |||
| 2012–2016 | AIFF Elite Academy | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016–2022 | Chennaiyin | 94 | (1) |
| 2016–2017 | →DSK Shivajians (loan) | 18 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | East Bengal | 19 | (0) |
| 2023– | Odisha | 23 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2013 | India U17 | 8 | (2) |
| 2015 | India U20 | 4 | (0) |
| 2017–2018 | India U23 | 5 | (1) |
| 2017–2019 | India | 9 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:33, 25 February 2023 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17:00, 16 July 2019 (UTC) | |||
Jerry Lalrinzuala (born 30 July 1998) is an Indian professionalfootballer who plays as adefender forIndian Super League clubOdisha.
Born inMizoram, Lalrinzuala started playing football from the age of five.[1] His father – a police officer who played for army football teams – and his mother did not want him to get into football and wanted Lalrinzuala to go to college.[1] "I took to the game when I was five. But my parents did not like me playing. They wanted me to study," said Lalrinzuala. He would attempt to attend football trials behind his parents back but was caught once by his father.[1]
Lalrinzuala was a part of theAIFF Elite Academy and Bethlehem Vengthlang of theMizoram Premier League before signing withChennaiyin of theIndian Super League. He joined the AIFF Elite Academy in 2012.[2] In early 2016, Lalrinzuala was one of five young footballers to be sponsored on their training stint withMetz in France.[3][4]
After impressing Chennaiyin's first-team staff in pre-season, he was included in the squad for the season. He made his professional debut for the team on 2 October 2016 in their opening match againstAtlético de Kolkata. He came on as a 73rd-minute substitute forNallappan Mohanraj as Chennaiyin drew the match 2–2.[5]
On 13 October 2016, in only his third appearance of his career, Lalrinzuala was awarded the "Emerging Player of the Match" award after Chennaiyin's 2–0 victory overGoa.[6] Lalrinzuala then earned the first assist of his career on 23 October againstPune City. His long-ball toJeje Lalpekhlua was lobbed into the net by theIndia international as Chennaiyin went on to draw the match 1–1.[7] He was then awarded his second "Emerging Player of the Match" award in the next match againstKerala Blasters. Chennaiyin drew that match 0–0 as Lalrinzuala ended his first month as a professional playing six matches and starting four of them.[8]
On 1 December 2016, after a rocky November, Lalrinzuala ended his first professional season with Chennaiyin by scoring his first professional goal from a free-kick in the 4th minute of their match against Goa. The goal gave Chennaiyin a 1–0 lead, which unfortunately ended with Chennaiyin losing 5–4. Despite the defeat, Lalrinzuala was still praised for his performance and also earned his fourth Emerging Player of the Match award for the season.[9]
At the end of the season, Lalrinzuala was given plenty of praise for his performances with Chennaiyin. Chennaiyin assistant coachSyed Sabir Pasha stated "Jerry is a boy with natural talent. I know him from a very long time and knew about his quality. He impressed Marco from the very first day of training. He has a great left foot and is very comfortable on the ball. He has improved his defending but most importantly he is a humble boy with great character. Even when he makes mistakes, he is not scared to continue playing his game. This is a very important attribute to have. He has a very bright future."[10]
The accolades continued to come in for Lalrinzuala as he was awarded the ISL Emerging Player of the Season award after theISL final on 18 December.[11]
On 20 December 2016, after his debut season withChennaiyin, Lalrinzuala was loaned toDSK Shivajians for theI-League season.[12] He made his debut for the side in their opening fixture of the season on 8 January 2017 againstMumbai at theCooperage Ground. He came on as a 62nd-minute substitute forSaša Kolunija as DSK Shivajians fell 1–0.[13]
At the end of theI-League season, after playing 18 matches for DSK Shivajians, Lalrinzuala earned the Best Emerging Player of I-League award.[14] On 8 May 2017, Lalrinzuala made hisFederation Cup debut for DSK Shivajians, starting in a 4–0 defeat againstMohun Bagan.[15] DSK Shivajians soon exited the tournament at the group stage and thus Lalrinzuala's loan with the club ended.[16]
On 19 July 2017, it was announced that Lalrinzuala had been retained byChennaiyin for the2017–18 season as a capped under-21 player.[17] He started during the team's first match of the season againstGoa. He started at left-back for Chennaiyin as they were defeated 3–2.[18] Despite the defeat, Lalrinzuala earned the ISL Emerging Player award for his performance against Goa.[19] Lalrinzuala once again won the ISL Emerging Player award after Chennaiyin's very next match againstNorthEast United.[20]
Throughout the first month of the season, Lalrinzuala formed a formidable partnership with fellow defenders,Ignacio Calderón,Maílson Alves, andHenrique Sereno, keeping two cleansheets from their first three matches.[21] He continued his good start to the season on 3 December 2017 when Chennaiyin took onPune City. He started the match and helped Chennaiyin to keep a clean sheet as they won 1–0.[22] He also earned the Hero of the Match award for his performance, his first time earning the Indian Super League top match award.[23]
At the end of the regular season, after Lalrinzuala had played in 17 of his side's 18 matches, Chennaiyin finished in second and thus qualified for a spot in theISL finals.[24] He proceeded to start in both legs of Chennaiyin's semi-final match ups againstGoa. Chennaiyin won the tie 4–1 to enter into their second ever Indian Super League final.[25] During thefinal, Lalrinzuala started and helped his side secure a 3–2 victory overBengaluru at theSree Kanteerava Stadium. After his performance in the final, Lalrinzuala earned the Emerging Player of the Match award as he won his first piece of silverware in his career.[26]
Jerry stayed at the Marina Arena for his 4th season. He was on the sidelines for the first half season after getting criticism for being very error-prone. He earned his left-back spot back afterOwen Coyle was appointed the new manager of the side, and played a crucial role in the team as Chennaiyin made a late resurgence and qualified for the playoffs on the final day. He got 2 assists in the semi-final first leg againstFC Goa, whom Chennai managed to win 4-1 at home against all the odds. However, he was unable to win the ISL trophy, as his side were beaten 3-1 byATK in the final.
Lalrinzuala has been a part of the India national youth set-up since joining theAIFF Academies. His first bit of international exposure came in October 2012 as part of the AIFF Regional Academy based inKolkata.[27] In July 2013 he was made part of theIndia U16 side that would participate in the2013 SAFF U-16 Championship alongside futureChennaiyin FC teammateAnirudh Thapa.[28] On 30 July 2013, during the final against hostsNepal, Lalrinzuala scored the only goal of the match from 35-yards out to earn India the championship.[29]
After leading India's triumph at the SAFF U-16 Championship, Lalrinzuala was included in the India U16 side for the2014 AFC U-16 Championship qualifiers.[30] Despite a good start during the qualifiers, including two victories and a draw in their opening three matches, defeat toKuwait 2–1 in the final match meant that India failed to qualify for the tournament proper.[31]
Almost two years later, in August 2015, Lalrinzuala was called-up into theIndia U19 squad that would participate in the inauguralSAFF U-19 Championship.[32] Despite helping the side reach the final againstNepal, India couldn't win the championship as they fell 5–4 on penalties.[33]
In February 2017, after his performances for both Chennaiyin in theIndian Super League andDSK Shivajians in theI-League,India head coachStephen Constantine called Lalrinzuala up to the senior team.[34] He would be part of the 31 player preparatory camp that would be preparing for India's firstAFC Asian Cup qualifier againstMyanmar and their friendly againstCambodia.[35] After the camp, it was announced that Lalrinzuala had made the final 24 man squad for those two matches.[36] Despite being included in the squad for both matches though, he didn't see any playing time in either game.[37][38]
Lalrinzuala was given his senior international debut by Constantine on 6 June 2017 when India took onNepal in a friendly at theMumbai Football Arena. He came on as a 64th minute substitute forNarayan Das as India won 2–0.[39]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | AFC | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Chennaiyin | 2016 | Indian Super League | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 13 | 1 | |
| 2017–18 | 20 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | — | 21 | 0 | |||
| 2018–19 | 10 | 0 | 3[a] | 0 | 5[b] | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
| 2019–20 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 14 | 0 | |||
| 2020–21 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 19 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 18 | 0 | |||
| Total | 94 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 103 | 1 | ||
| DSK Shivajians (loan) | 2016–17 | I-League | 18 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | — | 19 | 0 | |
| East Bengal | 2022–23 | Indian Super League | 19 | 0 | 3[d] | 0 | — | 22 | 0 | |
| Odisha | 2023–24 | 20 | 0 | 5[a] | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 131 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 144 | 1 | ||
| National Team | Year | Friendlies | Qualifiers | Competition | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| India | 2017 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| Total | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
Chennaiyin[42]
India
Individual