Sivasakthi Narayanan

Sivasakthi Narayanan

Personal information
Full name	Sivasakthi Narayanan
Date of birth	(2001-07-09) 9 July 2001 (age 22)
Place of birth	Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Bengaluru
Number	39
Youth career
2013–2018	Nobal Football Academy
2018–2020	Raman Vijayan Soccer School
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2020–2021	Bengaluru B	11	(15)
2021–	Bengaluru	41	(8)
International career‡
2023–	India U23	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:00, 24 February 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:00, 14 September 2023 (UTC)

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

Club career

Youth

Sivasakthi's youth career began when he was picked up by a NFA team during trials in Karaikudi. ^[1] 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, ^[2] 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. ^{[3] [4]}

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. ^[5] 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. ^[6] He scored his first goal for Bengaluru, ten minutes after being substituted against Maziya S&RC. ^[7]

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. ^[8] 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. ^[8]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 24 February 2024 ^[9]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup [lower-alpha 1]		Asia		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Bengaluru B	2020–21	Bangalore Super Division	11	15	—		—		—		11	15
Bengaluru	2021–22	Indian Super League	7	0	—		2 [lower-alpha 2]	1	5 [lower-alpha 3]	3	14	4
	2022–23		21	6	2	0	—		6 [lower-alpha 3]	5	29	11
	2023–24		13	2	3	0	—		0	0	16	2
	Total		41	8	5	0	2	1	11	8	59	17
Career total			52	23	5	0	2	1	11	8	70	32

1. Includes Super Cup
2. Appearances in AFC Cup
3. Appearances in Durand Cup

Honours

Bengaluru

• Indian Super League runner-up: 2022–23
• Durand Cup: 2022 ^[10]
• Indian Super Cup runner-up: 2023 ^[11]

Individual

• Indian Super League Emerging Player of the League: 2022–23 ^[12]
• 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 ^[13]

References

1. "Small town boy with big time dreams". bengaluru fc.com. Bengaluru FC. 6 February 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023.
2. "RVSS Product Sivasakthi Makes Dream BFC 'B' Debut". DT Next. 18 January 2021. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021.
3. "Sivasakthi on song as blue Colts regain top spot". Bengaluru FC. 22 February 2021. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
4. "Blue Colts reach summit with 8-1 rout of Income Tax". Bengaluru FC. 27 January 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
5. "Blues announce 29-man squad for AFC Cup qualifiers". Bengaluru FC. 8 April 2021. Archived from the original on 19 June 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
6. @bengalurufc (21 August 2021). "Final change for the blues..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
7. @bengalurufc (24 August 2021). "Quality Touch, Quality Finish!..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
8. "Small town boy with big time dreams". Bengaluru FC. 6 February 2021. Archived from the original on 19 June 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
9. Sivasakthi Narayanan at Soccerway
10. Narayan, Aaditya (19 September 2022). "Durand Cup 2022 review: The perfect curtain-raiser to the Indian football season". www.espn.in. Kolkata: ESPN. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
11. Rawat, Akhil (25 April 2023). "Odisha FC bask in Kozhikode rain; beat Bengaluru FC to claim Hero Super Cup crown". the-aiff.com. Kozhikode: All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
12. ISL Media Team (19 March 2023). "Hero ISL 2022-23: A list of all individual and team awards at the end of the season". indiansuperleague.com. Indian Super League. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023.
13. Chatterjee, Triyasha (13 May 2023). "FPAI Awards 2023: Bengaluru FC's Sivasakthi Narayanan wins Young Player of year, Mumbai City FC SWOOP numerous awards – Check Out". insidesport.in. Gangtok: Inside Sport India. Archived from the original on 13 May 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2023.

External links

• Sivasakthi Narayanan at Soccerway
• Siva Narayanan at Indian Super League
• Sivasakthi Narayanan at ESPN