India will not be at the FIFA World Cup 2026. That, unfortunately, is a familiar story for Indian football fans. But this time, there is still an Indian connection to the tournament and it stretches across three continents.
Meet Samuel Moutoussamy, Sarpreet Singh, Nishan Velupillay and Tahsin Mohammed Jamshid. These Indian-origin players represent different countries, play in different leagues and come from different cultural backgrounds. While India will once again watch the World Cup from the sidelines, these four players of Indian descent will be on football’s biggest stage.
Most are third or fourth-generation members of the Indian diaspora. Their journeys have taken them far from India, yet their stories continue to spark curiosity among football fans back home.
And that brings us to the next question: where do these players ply their trade at club level and how much do they earn? As the FIFA World Cup approaches, here’s a look at the careers and salaries of the four players:
Sarpreet Singh (New Zealand)
Rooted in Jalandhar, Punjab, Singh became the first player of Indian descent to feature in Germany’s Bundesliga when he pulled on a Bayern Munich shirt. He has since become the creative linchpin of the New Zealand All Whites. He also became the first Indian descent player to play at the FIFA World Cup 2026, coming in as a substitute in New Zealand’s 2-2 draw against Iran in their tournament opener on June 16.
Currently on loan with Wellington Phoenix in the A-League, his playmaking remains the standard by which the Kiwis measure their attacking ambition.
Nishan Velupillay (Australia)
Born to an Anglo-Indian mother and a father of Malaysian-Sri Lankan Tamil heritage, Velupillay is the Socceroos’ newest breakout star. The Melbourne Victory winger forced his way into Tony Popovic’s setup through sheer domestic form — scoring on his international debut and maintaining a multi-game scoring streak through the World Cup qualifiers.
Chances of playing: He did play in Australia’s opener against Turkiye in FIFA World Cup 2026.
Samuel Moutoussamy (DR Congo)
The established engine of DR Congo’s midfield, Moutoussamy carries an Indo-Guadeloupean heritage of Tamil descent. He spent years anchoring Ligue 1 sides for FC Nantes before moving to Panetolikos in Greece’s Super League — a career arc that gives him the broadest top-flight European experience of the four.
Chances of playing: Moutoussamy made his FIFA World Cup debut against Porugal and played the entire game in the midfield, without getting substituted. He is a tactical cornerstone for the Leopards, having played full 90-minute shifts through the final pre-tournament warm-ups. He dictates tempo from central midfield throughout the group stage.
Tahsin Mohammed Jamshid (Qatar)
History was made when 19-year-old Jamshid — whose parents hail from Kannur, Kerala — was named in Qatar’s final World Cup squad, becoming the first Malayali footballer to reach the tournament. An Aspire Academy graduate now at Qatari powerhouse Al-Duhail SC, he is the youngest and most developmental of the four.
Representation from India at a FIFA World Cup is extraordinarily rare. Before this quartet, only one player of South Asian descent had ever played at the tournament: Vikash Dhorasoo, who featured for France at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Dhorasoo, whose paternal lineage traces to Telugu roots in Andhra Pradesh, was a technical midfielder who played for AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain during his career. At the 2006 tournament, he made two substitute appearances — against Switzerland and against South Korea — before collecting a runners-up medal when France lost the final to Italy.
That was 20 years ago.
The 2026 edition sends four players of Indian heritage onto the same stage at once. It is not the same as India qualifying. But it is not nothing, either.