Sunil Chhetri’s mother and wife react to his retirement news with tears

Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri broke the news of his retirement through a video message on social media on Wednesday. The Indian talisman’s last match will be the FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Kuwait on June 6.

Chhetri said the decision to call it quits from the sport is a well thought out one and said he first told his family about the decision and explained how they had reacted.

“The moment I told myself first is when I started recollecting everything. I started thinking about this game, that game, of this coach, that coach, that ground, that team member. This good game, that bad game, all my performances and all the flashes came. So when I decided (that) this is going to be (my) final game, I told my mom, my dad and my wife first. My dad was normal. He was relieved, happy. But my mom and wife strangely started crying,” he said in the video.

He added that his wife couldn’t explain the reason for her tears. “I told them, you always used to bug me saying ‘there are too many games, there’s too much pressure on me’ and now that I’m retiring, I am not going to play for the country anymore. Even they couldn’t express to me as to why they burst into tears,” the 39-year-old added.

Speaking about his own emotions, Chhetri said he will feel sad after taking this decision. “Will I be sad after this? Of course! Do I feel sad sometimes every day because of this? Yes! 20 days of training and it will all be gone. It took time because the kid inside me never wants to stop to play for his country if given a chance. So many amazing things have happened to me but nothing comes close to playing for the country. The kid in me kept fighting and probably it will keep fighting even in future but the mature player knew it, this was it. But it wasn’t easy,” he explained.