| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nikhil Chandra Shekhar Poojary[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1995-09-03)3 September 1995 (age 30) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Mangaluru, Karnataka | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Right-back,winger | |||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | 29 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 23:43, 7 February 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 22:00, 13 June 2024 (UTC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Nikhil Chandra Shekhar Poojary (born 3 September 1995) is an Indian professionalfootballer who plays as aright-back orwinger forIndian Super League clubBengaluru and theIndia national team.
Born inMangalore,Karnataka Poojary started his career with Ryan FC inMumbai.[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 ofMumbai before signing withKolkata giantsEast Bengal in 2015.
Poojary made his first-team debut for East Bengal on 4 August 2016 in their openingCalcutta Football League fixture againstBhawanipore. 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 theBordoloi Trophy against Bongobi Agragami ofBangladesh. His strike in the 87th minute was the last goal in a 6–0 victory.[5]
On September 19th, 2024, Poojary made his 100th appearance in Indian Super League, making him 48th overall and 38th Indian player to achieve this mark.
After leaving Hyderabad he joined another Indian Super League side Bengaluru FC.
He scored his first international goal againstMaldives in the2018 SAFF Championship.
| 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 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | 2017 | 2 | 0 |
| 2018 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 13 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 22 | 1 | |
| 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] |
India
Hyderabad
