Let’s face it, India is not yet renowned for its professional footballers. Despite this, two players with Indian heritage have graced the English Premier League through the years, while another has been contracted to an EPL club without actually playing at the top level. We’ll look at the two EPL players, providing summaries of the footballing performances and achievements of each, while also making mention of the other.
English Premier League Footballers with Indian Heritage
Let’s begin with Michael Chopra, who was born of Indian origin in Newcastle upon Tyne forty years ago. Chopra was signed to the Newcastle United academy at 10 years old, progressing through the Toon’s youth system and signing his first professional contract with the club at 18.
The following year, after a short loan spell at Division One Watford, where the striker scored five goals in as many games, Chopra made his EPL debut for Newcastle. He would go on to represent the club 20 more times over the next three seasons without success, scoring only once.
His only goal against Sunderland was momentous though. Not only was it against Newcastle’s bitter rival, Sunderland, but it was also the fastest Premier League goal by a substitute, coming only 15 seconds after Chopra had taken the field. In the current age, predicting such a feat on a selection of legal international sites would have been highly profitable through individual betting markets for the sports punter involved.
As fortune would have it, Chopra signed with the newly promoted Sunderland just over a season later, scoring eight times in 39 appearances over the next two years. These would be his last appearances and goals in Premier League Football, as he moved down the English league system before moving to the Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League in 2014. Michael Chopra retired from pro football in 2016.
Neil Taylor is the footballer with an Indian bloodline likely regarded as being most successful in the EPL. Born to a Bengali mother from Kolkata, the Welsh international defender played a total of 146 English Premier League games. 131 of these came in six seasons with Swansea City while the remainder formed part of his spell with Aston Villa before he departed for Middlesbrough in the English Championship.
Taylor had the option of playing international football for India or Wales, choosing the latter and going on to represent the country of his birth 43 times. He was a constant in the Welsh starting lineup at the UEFA Euro 2016 Finals when the team overcame all odds to win its group, also containing England and progress to the semi-finals.
Taylor and Wales lost 0-2 to tournament winners Portugal in the penultimate stage. Neil Taylor retired as a player in 2022 and now manages Gulf United FC in the United Arab Emirates First Division, while also coaching for Wales U21.
Another footballer with Indian heritage who also had ties with an English Premier League club is Yann Dhanda. The Tipton-born winger whose grandparents hailed from Punjab in India, spent five years on the youth books at Liverpool, the current EPL leaders and second-favourites (3/1) with bookmakers behind the reigning champions Man City (1/1) for the title.
He signed his first professional contract for Swansea City in the Championship in 2018 but, unfortunately, Dhanda never took the field as an English Premier League player. He now plays in the Scottish Premiership with Ross County.
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