Vinit Rai Chamling (born 10 October 1997) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Indian Super League club Punjab and the India national team.
Born in Duliajan, Assam, Rai was scouted by the Duliajan Football Academy and later by the Tata Football Academy at the age of 13 and trained there for four years.[2] After graduating from Tata, Rai signed with I-League side Dempo. On signing Rai, Dempo head coach at the time, Arthur Papas said "Vinit is a very cultured midfielder with a great range of passing. He has a willingness to always want the ball and link the play between the defensive and forward lines."[3] Rai would enter the 2014–15 season with Dempo as the youngest first-team player.[3] After spending a majority of the season playing for the club's youth team, Rai made his professional debut for Dempo in the league on 1 March 2015 against East Bengal. He came on as an 81st-minute substitute for Jewel Raja as Dempo lost 5–1.[4]
After helping Dempo regain promotion to the I-League, Rai signed with Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters on 6 September 2016.[2] He made his debut for the team on 1 October 2016 against NorthEast United. He started the match and played 76 minutes as Kerala Blasters fell 1–0.[5]
After the ISL 2016 season, Vinit Rai signed with Minerva FC and will make its debut in I-league this season.[6]
Rai joined Odisha FC for the 2019–20 ISL season as a midfielder.[7] He also captained the team.
In 2022, Rai was loaned out to Indian Super League defending champions Mumbai City from Odisha. He was later included in club's 2022 AFC Champions League squad.[8]
Rai made his debut for the India under-23 side on 27 March 2015 against Uzbekistan U23 in the 2016 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. He played 80 minutes as India U23 fell 2–0.[9] Almost a year later, Rai made his debut on the bench for the India senior side in their FIFA World Cup qualifier against Iran. He did not come off the bench though.[10] Rai, however, did make his unofficial debut for India in the team's unofficial friendly against Bhutan. He came on as a 64th minute for Rowllin Borges as India won 3–0.[11]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | AFC | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Dempo | 2014–15 | I-League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |
| Kerala Blasters | 2016 | Indian Super League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |
| Minerva Punjab (loan) | 2016–17 | I-League | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | |
| Odisha | 2017–18 | Indian Super League | 13 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | — | 14 | 0 | |
| 2018–19 | 16 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | — | 17 | 0 | |||
| 2019–20 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 15 | 1 | |||
| 2020–21 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 16 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 8 | 0 | |||
| Total | 68 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 1 | ||
| Mumbai City (loan) | 2021–22 | Indian Super League | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5[b] | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 2022–23 | 11 | 2 | 8[c][a] | 0 | — | 19 | 2 | |||
| Mumbai City | 2023–24 | Indian Super League | 15 | 0 | 6[c][a] | 0 | 4[b] | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Total | 35 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 58 | 2 | ||
| Punjab | 2024–25 | Indian Super League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| Career total | 111 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 136 | 3 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | 2018 | 6 | 0 |
| 2019 | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 11 | 0 | |
Mumbai City
India
India U23
 | ||
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