Baljit Sahni: Former ISL winner now a cashier at Walmart

The former East Bengal striker moved to Canada after being left without a club since 2017.

Baljit Sahni, ex-India International and Indian Super League-winner with ATK, has decided to call time on his footballing career citing financial hardship. The winger, who last plied his trade for the now defunct FC Pune City, moved to Canada and has been serving as a cashier at a Walmart store in Edmonton.

In a chat with Mumbai Mirror, he narrated the story of his struggle saying, “In 2019, I left for Canada. I was not getting paid enough. I had to earn my bread and butter and I also have a family to take care of. I retired from football because after that there is a life too and that is hard, but you have to accept that life and take it on the chin.”

The Hoshiyapur-born forward is the first Indian to score a hat-trick in the I-League. He did so in the 2009-10 season against Shillong Lajong while playing for JCT.

However, a month later, he met with a horrific bike accident in Goa and it required 25 stitches which kept him away for a good few weeks. However, the injury was a blessing in disguise for him, he explained. “I don’t think the injury changed my future forever. After that injury, I was more serious about my profession.”

Looking at his exploits with JCT, Kolkata giants East Bengal roped him in and Sahni’s romance with Kolkata started, as he had a glorious career with both - the Red and Gold and ATK. He went on to win the Calcutta Football League (CFL), IFA Shield and Federation Cup with the former in his early days. He formed a deadly partnership with Tolgay Ozbey and Robin Singh under Trevor Morgan, but they missed out on a title by a whisker. Later on, he made a switch to ATK in the year 2014 and won the league in its inaugural season.

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He recollected the memories from his time in Kolkata and mentioned, “Kolkata is my second home after Punjab. I spent seven years of my life there.”

It was the year 2017, where everything started to go downhill as he changed three clubs in four years. But, destiny had other ideas, as disagreements with FC Pune City on contract terms left him without a club. He then started looking at other professions to earn money.

It was then that he decided to move to Canada and start a new life. Baljit Sahni holds no regrets and is happy to stay in Canada. “I came here to give my child a bright future and I am happy with my work.”

“It was the right decision to quit football at that moment. It is my right to think about my future. I took the right decision,” concluded Baljit Sahni.