Ishan Pandita, 18, from Bengaluru becomes India’s first player to be signed in for the Spanish Football Tournament, La Liga. He got a professional contract from La Liga club Leganes declaring a contract of a year. Leganes is a town near Madrid which is ranked 11^th in the table.

He was handed the no. 50 jersey by owner and vice president of the club, Felipe Moreno.  He will start by playing for the junior side – Leganes B who ply their trade in the Tercera Division (the fourth division of football in Spain). According to his age, he’s getting the right exposure to become a big player.

On this life changing event Ishan said, ““It’s been a tough, hard three years here in Spain but at the end, it was all worth it, it feels great to be the first Indian to go down this path. Right from the moment I decided to take a break from studies till now, I never gave up on my dream”.

The academy director, Jorge Broto Benavente said ““What impressed us most about Ishan were his physical attributes and ability to score goals, “What impressed us most about Ishan were his physical attributes and ability to score goals,”. When asked about his future, he replied” It’s too early to say when he will break into the main team – he is a young player, a rough diamond to be worked on.”