It is my absolute pleasure to welcome you to the 29th edition of my Player Profile interview series. My guest for this edition of the series is Indian footballer, Kilp Namgyal Barfungpa. As you will read, even only at the age of 25, Kilp has experienced many things in the football world. His football story is suberb and I am very grateful to him for agreeing to this interview.
Name: Kilp Namgyal Barfungpa
Age: 25
Place of Birth: Sikkim, India
Currently Living: Gangtok, North East India
Current Club: Not with a club at present
Previous Clubs: Eintracht Dortmund U’19’s (Germany) Tus Koblenz II (Germany) United Sikkim 2 Spells (India) Royal Wahingdoh 2 Spells (India) Mohammedan SC (India) Shillong United (India) Paro FC (Bhutan) Gangtok Himalayan (India)
Position: Left Back/Wing Back and can also play as a left midfielder
International Call Up’s: No call up’s to national team but I have represented my state in a tournament in Nagaland
GT: Kilp, it is a great pleasure for me to interview you for my blog series, Player Profile. Thank you for agreeing to speak to me, I am looking forward to learning about your career. When you were growing up in Sikkim can you remember what first attracted you to football?
KB: Thank you and it’s my pleasure. I am not sure what attracted me to football. But as far as I can remember a cousin of mine use to play football for the army so whenever he came home for holidays he used to attend practice and I would go along with him and kick the ball against the wall on the side. I think that is how I got into football.
GT: That’s a lovely story of how you were first introduced to football, I think people all over the world could relate to that. Did you have a favourite team when you were growing up and did you play for any junior teams?
KB: Here in my state at that time youth system football was not very popular and even now it’s very rare. I used to play with my neighbours on a small area which was not a football field but kids use to play football, cricket, marbles, all sorts of things. I didn’t really have a favourite team but I liked Manchester United because of David Beckham.
It was only when I was in school that I played proper football matches for my class and our sport house.
GT: As you grew and got older did you still have the opportunity to play for your school teams and was it at this period of time that you got chosen to represent your state?
KB: What I have told you happened when I was a kid in my street. At school I only played a bit but I was not good.
I moved to Kodaikanal in the South of India and attended a school called Kodaikanal international school in class 4. That is where I started to improve and my interest in the sport grew. I played for the school team when I was in class 8.
GT: How long was it before you attracted the attention of Eintracht Dortmund? That must have been an amazing time for you?
KB: First I went to Spain at the age of 16 in 2011 and had trials for a club called CF Damm. The trial went successfully but due to visa reasons it didn’t work out. I then went to Germany to an academy called Deutsches Fußball Internat (DFI) and then I had trials for Eintracht in 2012 and I was able to join the club.
GT: What was it like for you to experience playing football in a different country, first in Spain and then in Germany?
KB: It was like a dream and I really wanted to stay in Spain. Playing and living in Germany was not so difficult during the first few months because I was so excited but the difficulties for me were the language and the pace of the game. Later on I became homesick at times and I remember at times that dreamt about our food from Sikkim, so I went to my Mother’s friend in Utrecht to eat.
The main difficulty in terms of football was that when I was in Germany during the first year I was not allowed to play official matches because of my age and some other rules which was very frustrating.
GT: What age were you when you were in Germany and how long did you spend with Eintracht Dortmund before joining your next club, Tus Koblenz II?
KB: I was 16 and I was there for three and a half years. For one season I was a member of the under 19 team. At that time it was a very difficult situation for me as I felt was lost but I was very luck to meet very good people who helped me. The academy was going through a bad time and was going to shut down and move to Munich. My coach Nikolai Iliev let me stay at his house for some time and I didn’t know what to do because the Dortmund team wanted me to stay for the last year in the under 19’s. But I didn’t know how I was going to manage so I moved to Koblenz because some friends of my parents (family Bär) took me in and helped me out like my own parents. Mr Bär set up a trial for the reserves team at Koblenz and I did well so I ended up playing for the reserves and u19’s.
GT: What a suberb thing for your coach to do for you and also your parents friends too. Did this help you to feel more at ease and in turn did this help you with your performances on the football pitch?
KB: I will be forever grateful to them. It was difficult with travelling and going to training. At one point I was staying at a university hostel which was nice. I was also doing well on the pitch. But with the hostel being for university students I eventually had to move out and started sharing a flat. It started to become very difficult for me and effected my performance on the pitch. But two players who were older than me helped me to settle in, Max from Australia and Memo Abi.
Now when I look back it was good but I was not mature enough to better my career but I have no regrets because I learnt a lot. Spending time in Germany taught me a lot and I will always have that with me.
GT: Like you rightly say you will always have that experience with you which is a good thing. How long was it before you retuned back to India and can you tell me about your time with United Sikkim. Also, as I love finding out about football in parts of the world that I am not familiar with could you tell me what League the club were in at the time and what the stadium is like, how many people used to come and watch the games?
KB: I returned back to India in mid 2014 and started training with United Sikkim and played for the club in the local league here, The Sikkim Premier League. Unfortunately the league was not very well organised but for me it was an experience and I had fun because I was getting a lot of playing time. We fought off relegation and on the last day we beat the champions to stay in the league.
The stadium is one the most beautiful, but that year and as I previously mentioned the league was horrible. The organisation was bad and on some occasions we had to play matches at 9am which meant very few people watched the games in a huge stadium but I still enjoyed playing there.
GT: So apart from the league organisational side of things it sounds like you had a good time playing for the club. Did you feel like you improved as a player with United Sikkim?
KB: Yes that year (2014) I played in all of the game in the league and also in our independence cup which takes place in August. Playing regularly helped me a lot to get my confidence back.
GT: That’s great to hear. How long were you with Sikkim before you moved onto your next club?
KB: I played a year with United Sikkim (2014) and at that point I wanted to play higher and outside my state because I was not getting any attention from other clubs because I didn’t have many connections having just returned back from Germany. I was thinking of going back to school and finishing and I even went to fill in the forms. Then my friend called me to visit him in his home town, Shillong where he had set me up with a trial for Royal Wahingoh. I did well at the trial and got a contract. I played for them for three years in there reserve team squad, Shillong United in 2015. I was promoted to the main team at Royal Wahingoh in 2016.
After a successful season where we finished third in the league I got a loan deal to Mohammedan Sporting club in Calcutta, one of the oldest clubs in India. The club was in second division Indian league at the time. This was a great chance for me but I got a knee injury where I didn’t feature much after that. After that loan spell I came back to Shillong United for a year where it was successful for me personally, playing in many positions and not only left back.
GT: Really interesting to read that you had a loan deal at Mohammedan SC and that the club is one of the oldest clubs in India. With them being in the second division of the Indian League, was this the highest level that you had played at in your career upto that point?
KB: Yes, This was the highest level in my career so far. It wasn’t how I wanted it to go but I have learned a lot on how things work and how mentally it plays a big role.
GT: What do you mean it wasn’t how you wanted it to go?
KB: I wish I hadn’t got injured in a training match because if I was fit then I felt I would have done well and earned a lot of playing time and got noticed by other clubs but that is football.
GT: That’s true but you were soon on another adventure where you ended up playing in Bhutan. I do have a little knowledge of football in Bhutan having previously interviewed an English coach by the name of Josh Shepherd who had worked out there. But I’m very interested to hear about your own experiences from your time playing in the country?
KB: After Calcutta I went back to Shillong for a year and then returned back home in 2018 to play for United Sikkim. This was one of the best years for me football wise. We won three tournaments and I won the best player in the league. After that I went to Bhutan to play for Paro FC, one of the best clubs in Bhutan. We were new comers in the league but the management had done well and we ended up finishing second in the league missing out on a place in the Asian champions league by just one point.
I really enjoyed playing there in a football growing country and for a club that is so positive and supportive. Very professionally run and with the best coach in Bhutan. The country and the people who live there are amazing
GT: From your answer I can really get a sense of how much you enjoyed your time playing in Bhutan. Would you like to go back there one day if you get the opportunity?
KB: Yes it would really nice to go back and play in Bhutan, preferably for Paro FC.
GT: I really hope that you get that opportunity. So, after leaving Paro FC you returned to India and signed for Gangtok Himalayan, what a wonderful name for a football club. Could you tell me how you ended up signing for the club and how your time went with them?
KB: I was approached by one of the management team. This was during last year. We were doing well in the league but the league was abandoned by all the players because there was a dispute between the players, refs and the association. That was sad but at that time we all felt that it was good for Sikkim football but I am in doubt now. We did however win the independence cup and I was the captain, that is the biggest crowd I have played in.
GT: So sadly is this the reason why you are currently without a club. Are there any possibilities on the horizon for you with regards to you joining a club yet?
KB: No. I was with Gangtok Himalayan until December last year and we won a tournament in West Bengal. In January I played for my state team and then the pandemic happened so ever since it has been tough for footballers in Sikkim. Sports has not reopened unlike in other parts of India. This is the longest period of time that I haven’t played football for which currently stands at nine months.
GT: Thanks for the information Kilp. Covid has ruined a lot of sportsmen and women’s plans and I really hope that you can resume your career very soon. It has been an absolute privilege to interview you, I have really enjoyed learning about your career. One final question if I may – what are your ambitions for your future in the game?
KB: Yes, it has been very difficult for all of us but I hope things get back to normal and I can get fully fit. Hopefully I can get a club and move up a level. My ambitions are just to play football, keep healthy so that I can play as long as possible and make a full time living out of the game.
Thank you very much for interviewing me and sharing my story.
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