# List of India national football team captains

This article lists all the captains of the India national football team.
The first India captain in their maiden international tour was Gostha Pal, organised under the control of Indian Football Association (Bengal) before the formation of All India Football Federation in 1937. The first captain to lead India in their first AIFF organised international tour was Karuna Bhattacharya, who captained India in their first international match against Australia on 3 September 1938.
The following table includes players who have captained the India national football team, along with the vice-captains and the international tournaments they led in.

## List of captains

| Tenure | Incumbent | Vice-captains | Tournaments/Notes |
| 1924 | Mani Das | | Calcutta Indians / IFA XI IFA organised national teams |
| 1926 | Syed Abdus Samad | | Calcutta Wanderers / IFA XI |
| 1933 | Gostha Pal | Sanmatha Dutta, Karuna Bhattacharya | All India XI / IFA XI 1st all-India national team organised by IFA |
| 1934–36 | Sanmatha Dutta | | All India XI / IFA XI |
| 1938 | Karuna Bhattacharya | | 1st AIFF organised national team (India tour of Australia 1938) |
| 1948 | Talimeren Ao | | 1948 Summer Olympics |
| 1949–54 | Sailen Manna | Ahmed Khan | 1951 Asian Games, 1952 Colombo Cup, 1952 Summer Olympics, 1953 Colombo Cup, 1954 Colombo Cup, 1954 Asian Games |
| 1955/58 | Sayed Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din | | 1955 Colombo Cup, 1958 Asian Games |
| 1956 | Samar Banerjee | Neville D'Souza, J. Krishnaswamy | 1956 Summer Olympics |
| 1959–60 | Sheikh Abdul Latif | | 1959 Merdeka Tournament |
| 1960–61 | P. K. Banerjee | | 1961 Merdeka Tournament, 1960 Summer Olympics |
| 1962–64 | Chuni Goswami | | 1962 Asian Games, 1964 AFC Asian Cup, 1964 Merdeka Tournament |
| 1965–67 | Jarnail Singh | | 1965 Merdeka Tournament, 1966 Merdeka Tournament, 1966 Asian Games, 1967 Merdeka Tournament |
| 1967–68 | Arun Ghosh | | 1968 Merdeka Tournament |
| 1969/73 | Inder Singh | | 1969 Merdeka Tournament, 1973 Merdeka Tournament |
| 1970 | Syed Nayeemuddin | | 1970 Merdeka Tournament, 1970 Asian Games |
| 1971 | Chandreshwar Prasad | | 1971 Merdeka Tournament, 1971 Pesta Sukan Cup |
| 1971 | Arun Ghosh | | |
| 1972 | Mohammed Habib | | |
| 1974 | Magan Singh Rajvi | Ranjit Thapa | 1974 Merdeka Tournament, 1974 Asian Games |
| 1976–77 | Pradip Chowdhury | Gurdev Singh Gill | |
| 1978 | Gurdev Singh Gill | | 1978 Asian Games |
| 1980 | Prasun Banerjee | A. Devraj Doraiswamy | |
| 1981–82 | Bhaskar Ganguly | | 1981 Merdeka Tournament, 1982 Nehru Cup, 1982 President's Cup, 1982 Merdeka Tournament, 1982 Asian Games |
| 1982 | Shabbir Ali | | |
| 1982/84 | Prasanta Banerjee | | 1984 Nehru Cup |
| 1982 | Parminder Singh | | |
| 1982–83 | Brahmanand Sankhwalkar | | 1983 Nehru Cup |
| 1982 | Pem Dorji | | |
| 1982 | Biswajit Bhattacharya | | |
| 1982 | Monoranjan Bhattacharya | | |
| 1984–86/88–89 | Sudip Chatterjee | Biswajit Bhattacharya, Tarun Dey | 1984 AFC Asian Cup, 1985 Nehru Cup, 1986 Merdeka Tournament, 1986 Asian Games, 1985 South Asian Games, 1988 Nehru Cup, 1989 South Asian Games |
| 1986 | Atanu Bhattacharya | Mauricio Afonso | 1986 Nehru Cup |
| 1987 | Abdul Majeed Kakroo | | 1987 Nehru Cup |
| 1987 | Babu Mani | | 1987 South Asian Games |
| 1989 | Mauricio Afonso | | 1989 Nehru Cup |
| 1991 | Bikash Panji | | 1991 Nehru Cup |
| 1992 | Krishanu Dey | | |
| 1993–95 | V. P. Sathyan | | 1993 Nehru Cup, 1993 SAARC Gold Cup, 1993 South Asian Games 1995 Nehru Cup, 1995 South Asian Gold Cup |
| 1995–96/97/99 | Bruno Coutinho | | 1995 South Asian Games, 1997 Nehru Cup, 1999 SAFF Gold Cup |
| 1996/98/99 | I. M. Vijayan | | 1998 Asian Games |
| 1997 | Carlton Chapman | | 1997 SAFF Gold Cup |
| 1999/2001/03 | Jo Paul Ancheri | | 1999 South Asian Games, 2001 Merdeka Tournament |
| 2000 | Roberto Fernandes | | |
| 2000–11 | Bhaichung Bhutia | I. M. Vijayan, Debjit Ghosh, Shanmugam Venkatesh, Renedy Singh, Climax Lawrence | 2005 SAFF Gold Cup, 2007 Nehru Cup, 2008 SAFF Championship, 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, 2009 Nehru Cup, 2011 AFC Asian Cup |
| 2001 | Basudeb Mondal | | |
| 2003 | Debjit Ghosh | | 2003 SAFF Gold Cup |
| 2005 | Shanmugam Venkatesh | | |
| 2009 | Renedy Singh | | |
| 2011 | Climax Lawrence | | 2011 SAFF Championship |
| 2012–2024 | Sunil Chhetri | Gouramangi Singh, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandesh Jhingan | 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, 2012 Nehru Cup, 2013 SAFF Championship, 2015 SAFF Championship, 2018 Intercontinental Cup, 2019 AFC Asian Cup, 2019 King's Cup, 2019 Intercontinental Cup, 2021 SAFF Championship, 2023 Tri-Nation Series 2023 Intercontinental Cup, 2023 SAFF Championship 2023 AFC Asian Cup |
| 2015 | Subrata Pal | | |
| 2016/2023 2024–2025 | Gurpreet Singh Sandhu | Rahul Bheke | 2023 King's Cup, 2024 Intercontinental Cup |
| 2017 2025– | Sandesh Jhingan | | 2017 Hero Tri-Nation Series |
| 2018 | Subhasish Bose | | 2018 SAFF Championship |

### Captains by major tournaments

* Bold indicates tournament winners
* Italics indicates tournament hosts
| Player | Tournament(s) |
| Talimeren Ao | 1948 Summer Olympics |
| Sailen Manna | 1951 Asian Games 1952 Summer Olympics 1954 Asian Games |
| Samar Banerjee | 1956 Summer Olympics |
| Sayed Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din | 1958 Asian Games |
| P. K. Banerjee | 1960 Summer Olympics |
| Chuni Goswami | 1962 Asian Games 1964 AFC Asian Cup |
| Jarnail Singh | 1966 Asian Games |
| Syed Nayeemuddin | 1970 Asian Games |
| Magan Singh Rajvi | 1974 Asian Games |
| Gurdev Singh Gill | 1978 Asian Games |
| Bhaskar Ganguly | 1982 Asian Games |
| Sudip Chatterjee | 1984 AFC Asian Cup 1986 Asian Games |
| I. M. Vijayan | 1998 Asian Games |
| Bhaichung Bhutia | 2008 AFC Challenge Cup 2011 AFC Asian Cup |
| Sunil Chhetri | 2019 AFC Asian Cup 2023 AFC Asian Cup |