Although we seen some of the greatest Indian football players trying their best to play in top leagues of the world, the most recent and popular one has got to be Gurpreet’s stint with Stabaek FC. It was almost 6 years ago, on 15 August, a news broke out regarding Gurpreet leaving East Bengal and joining Norwegian Club, Stabæk Fotball.
It was obviously a very risky decision for Gurpreet take as there have been few Indian players who have fared miserably earlier after taking such decisions. Gurpreet became the fifth Indian to ever earn a professional contract with a European club and also became the first Indian to ever feature in a UEFA Europa Cup game, which was obviously a very proud moment for the entire nation.
Although Gurpreet was highly praised by his coach in Stabæk Fotball, Gurpreet had to fight for a place in the starting eleven as the club already had a very experienced and a quality goalkeeper like Sayouba Mandé.
IFTWC recently had a very interactive live session with Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, where he talked about his stint with Stabæk Fotball and he also revealed why he had to leave the Norwegian club.
“I think it was one of the most important moves in my career. I learned a lot of new things in Europe and the 3 years in Norway really made me a better person. I think that experience helped me to be who I’m today. It really made me a better professional player and it opened my eye towards how football actually works” said Gurpreet while talking about his time at Norway.
“After loosing the Europa Cup game, the club management decided to change the entire coaching team, so it would have been very difficult for me to adjust in the team again. If I wanted to stay at Stabæk Fotball then I would have to recover first and then fight for a place in the team again under the new coach which would have obviously been very difficult for any player” said Gurpreet while talking him leaving Stabæk Fotball after losing the Europa Cup game.
Playing experience in Europe has surely helped him grow as he said and be the number one choice for his national team even after having some tough competition in the country.
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