The 20-year-old footballer, Sarpreet Singh, has become the first player of Indian descent to play in the top tier of German football league named Bundesliga when he made his Bayern Munich debut against Werder Bremen on Saturday night. FC Bayern Munich won the match by 6-1, thrashing the opponent Werder Bremen. The former team is at the fourth spot on the Bundesliga table with 27 points, six points behind leaders RB Leipzig.
Since Javi Martinez was suspended and Kingsley Coman and Corentin Tolisso were ruled out due to injury, Singh was named on the bench. Subsequently, Sarpreet was signed for the German giants as a substitute to replace Philippe Coutinho before the start of this season.
Sarpreet, an attacking midfielder within the mildew of Mesut Ozil, is the second New Zealander to play in the Bundesliga after striker Wynton Rufer. Rufer has spent 8 years in Bundesliga for Werder Bremen and Kaiserslautern between 1989 and 1997.
The 5’7” playmaker’s performance was noteworthy while he played against Real Madrid and Arsenal. Before making his official debut, he featured on the FC Bayern bench eight times. He joined Bayern from Wellington Phoenix in Australia's A-League in last summer. He earned 6 caps and scored 1 international goal in the league. Born in New Zealand to Indian parents, Singh played for Onehunga Sports in his youth before signing up for Wellington Phoenix in 2015. He also played on Indian soil as part of the New Zealand's squad in the 2018 Intercontinental Cup.
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Sarpreet’s first goal for the All Whites was against Kenya at the Mumbai Football Arena before playing against the likes of Sunil Chhetri while facing India. His first senior football tournament was A-League game, which he entered as a substitute in February 2017 against Melbourne City, (the sister club of ISL side Mumbai City FC).
Before paving his way to Bundesliga, Sarpreet made 39 league appearances for Phoenix.
