3. Jeakson Singh Thounaojam (Kerala Blasters)
Jeakson Singh is a well known name among Indian football fans and a name which is already been registered in the history books of Indian football. The man who scored India’s first ever goal in any Fifa tournament which came in the form of a towering header against Colombia U17 at 81st minute of the game, hence levelling the score at 1-1 which unfortunately didn’t last long as India conceded later on to lose 1-2. Jeakson prefers to play as a defensive midfielder.
Jeakson is a Manipur born boy who is from a football loving family and moved to Chandigarh to join Chandigarh Football Academy when he was just 11 years old. Five years later, he joined Minerva Punjab Academy where he was a part of their youth team. He became a pivotal part of the academy and tasted success by winning the AIFF U-15 & U16 youth titles two years in a row. After the Fifa U17 World Cup, he was sent on loan to Indian Arrows from Minerva Punjab. He had his first ever professional encounter against Chennai City FC, where the Indian Arrows won by 3-0 margin. In October 2018, he was signed by Kerala Blasters and he was put in their reserve side. He made 5 appearances for the reserve side in the I-League 2nd division before being loaned out to Arrows again in order to get some playing time.
However the time to shine came for Jeakson when he was selected by newly appointed Kerala Blasters manager, Eelco Schattorie for the very first match in ISL 2019/20 season against ATK, which Kerala blasters won by 2-1. He played for 82 minutes and also became the second youngest player to play for Blasters after Dheeraj Singh. Despite Blasters’s poor season, he was one of their good players and ended up featuring in 13 games in his debut season. After a breakthrough season with Blasters, he earned a spot in the list of probables for India’s World Cup qualifier match against Qatar, but didn’t make it to the final squad. He is definitely a talent to look out for and sky is the limit for him if he nourishes his game with time.