Abhishek Yadav

Abhishek Yadav (born 10 June 1980) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as striker for Mumbai F.C. in the I-League. Abhishek is known for his ability in the air as he stands at 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall. He also runs his own football academy, "Football School of India", which provides professional football training. Currently the academy is operational cross 5 cities in India (Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Kolkata and Bangalore)

Club career

During his youth, Abhishek Yadav played for local team Rashtriya Chemical Fertilizers (RCF) in the 1998/99 season. After finding success at RCF, Yadav began his professional career at Mahindra United.

For the 2000-2001 season, Yadav signed with Churchill Brothers, but returned to Mumbai to play for Mahindra United after just a season. Yadav then spent five seasons with Mahindra United where he won all of the major Indian trophies - Durand Cup, IFA Shield, National Football League (the I-League replaced the NFL), Federation Cup and Mumbai League. In 2007, Abhishek joined Mumbai FC. After joining the newly founded club owned by the Essel Group, Yadav said the move was a "calculated risk" but cited David Booth and Henry Menezes as reasons for joining. The "calculated risk" paid off in 2008, when he helped the team win the I-League 2nd Division, thereby allowing the team to be promoted to the 1st Division of the I-League. Now captains the side and lead from the front scoring 9 goals for the season and the top scorer for the club.

International career

Yadav has been involved with the Indian national squad since 2002. During his debut, Yadav came off the substitutes bench and scored the winning goal in the LG Cup final against Vietnam. This was the first trophy India had won abroad in 28 years.