Chennaiyin youngster Bijay Chhetri Creates History, becomes first Indian to join Uruguayan Club

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Chennaiyin FC youngster Bijay Chhetri has created history by becoming the first Indian footballer to join a Uruguayan club on a professional contract.

Bijay Chhetri has completed his move to Colon Futbol Club, Uruguay from Chennaiyin FC.

The player has joined Colon on loan until the end of the year with the Uruguayan club retaining the option to make the signing permanent.

With this, he became the first Indian footballer to sign a professional contract with a Latin American club. Colon FC is based in Uruguayan capital Montevideo and play in the segunda division of the country (2nd Division).

Chennaiyin FC co-owner Vita Dani expressed her happiness on the Bijay's move. She commented: "We are extremely proud to see Bijay make his way to one of the world's biggest football nations. Uruguay are forever etched in the game's history, with four stars on their chest as winners of two Olympic gold medals in 1924 and 1928, the first World Cup in 1930 and then repeating in Brazil in 1950. And Colon Futbol Club are part of that heritage; founded even before the first World Cup. I wish Bijay the very best and we are all hoping for his success as he makes history as the first Indian player to secure a contract with a Latin American club."

Marcelo Rifas, director of Colon Futbol Club, speaking on the transfer said, "When a Bijay's profile was proposed to us, looking at his videos from the past, his profile and our internal references we got more and more confident of the player. Now we sincerely hope he can come at the earliest and get integrated into our team. We see him as a solid first team player for us. It also helps us open a line of sourcing players from a new marketplace."

Bijay joined the Marina Machans last summer from Sreenidi Deccan and has been growing with the reserves team. The 22-year-old is a defender who mainly hones as a centre-back. He played for Sreenidi Deccan in the Kalinga Super Cup last year.