Sivasakthi Narayanan

Sivasakthi Narayanan (born 9 July 2001) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Indian Super League club Bengaluru.

Youth
Sivasakthi's youth career began when he was picked up by a NFA team during trials in Karaikudi. Sivasakthi was scouted by Raman Vijan Soccer School and he was the top scorer in the 2018-19 season of Elite League with 22 goals for the club. He then joined Bengaluru FC's B team, where he played for the club in the 2020-21 season of Bangalore Super Division league. He emerged as the top goal scorer after scoring a staggering 15 goals for the club, which includes two hat-tricks.

Bengaluru FC
On 8 April 2021, Bengaluru FC announced their squad for their AFC Cup campaign, which saw the 20-year-old getting maiden call up for the senior team. He made his senior team debut when he replaced Suresh Singh in the game against Bashundhara Kings at the group stage of 2021 AFC Cup. He scored his first goal for Bengaluru, ten minutes after being substituted against Maziya S&RC.

Personal life
Hailing from a football frenzy district of Karaikudi, Sivasakthi picked up football as an interest and went on to get selected for the trials held in his hometown, when he was in 7th grade at school. When he and his friends began to pick their favourite ISL teams, Sivasakthi chose to be a fan of Bengaluru FC. Sivasakthi lost his father when he was young and is now survived by his mother, who according to Sivasakthi, raised and supported him to follow his passion. During the 2020-21 Bangalore Super Division season, Bengaluru FC B team's Head Coach, Sandesh Bhoite said that Sivasakthi is tall, lanky and has the kind of core strength that gets him past even the heaviest challenges.

Honours
Bengaluru
 * Indian Super League runner-up: 2022–23
 * Durand Cup: 2022
 * Indian Super Cup runner-up: 2023

Individual
 * Indian Super League Emerging Player of the League: 2022–23
 * 2018–19 Indian Elite League – Top goal scorer
 * 2020–21 Bangalore Super Division – Top goal scorer and Best forward of the season award
 * FPAI Young Player of the Year: 2023