Nikhil Poojary

Nikhil Chandra Shekhar Poojary (born 3 September 1995) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a right-back or winger for Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team.

Club career
Born in Mangalore, Karnataka to a Tulu speaking Billava family, Poojary started his career with Ryan FC in Mumbai. While with Ryan FC, Poojary was selected to play for the Maharashtra under-19 side in the school games nationals. Poojary soon joined the youth side of Mumbai before signing with Kolkata giants East Bengal in 2015.

Poojary made his first-team debut for East Bengal on 4 August 2016 in their opening Calcutta Football League fixture against Bhawanipore. He came on as a 78th minute substitute for Jiten Murmu as East Bengal won 2–1. Poojary scored his first goal for the club on 23 September 2016 during the group stage match of the Bordoloi Trophy against Bongobi Agragami of Bangladesh. His strike in the 87th minute was the last goal in a 6–0 victory.

International career
He scored his first international goal against Maldives in the 2018 SAFF Championship.

International goals

 * Scores and results list India's goal tally first

Honours
India
 * SAFF Championship: 2023
 * Tri-Nation Series: 2017
 * Intercontinental Cup: 2023

Hyderabad
 * Indian Super League: 2021–22