Vinit Rai

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.

Vinit Rai
Personal information
Full name Vinit Rai Chamling
Date of birth (1997-10-10) 10 October 1997
Place of birth Duliajan, Assam, India
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team 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)
International career‡
2015–2019 India U23 7 (0)
2018– India 11 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:48, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:10, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Club career

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

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

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

Odisha FC

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

Loan to Mumbai City

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

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

Club
As of 19 April 2023[12]
Club Season League Cup AFC Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Dempo 2014–15 I-League 2000—20
Kerala Blasters 2016 Indian Super League 2000—20
Minerva Punjab (loan) 2016–17 I-League 4000—40
Odisha 2017–18 Indian Super League 1301[lower-alpha 1]0—140
2018–19 1601[lower-alpha 1]0—170
2019–20 15100—151
2020–21 16000—160
2021–22 8000—80
Odisha total 6812000701
Mumbai City (loan) 2021–22 Indian Super League 90005[lower-alpha 2]0140
2022–23 1128[lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 1]0—192
Mumbai City 2023–24 Indian Super League 0000—00
Mumbai City total 2028050332
Career total 963100501113
  1. Appearance(s) in Super Cup
  2. Appearance(s) in AFC Champions League
  3. Appearance(s) in Durand Cup

International
As of matches played till 19 November 2019[13][12]
National teamYearAppsGoals
India 201860
201950
Total 110

Honours

Mumbai City

India

India U23

References
  1. "Vinit Rai profile - Goals, Passes and more". Indian Super League. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  2. "Kerala Blasters sign Vinit Rai". Arunfoot. 6 September 2016. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  3. "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. Vinit Rai at Soccerway
  13. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "NFT player — National team & Club appearances: Rai, Vinit". national-football-teams.com. National Football Teams. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 18 November 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.
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