Sarpreet Singh starred for New Zealand in their thrilling 2-2 draw against Iran in their first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the Los Angeles Stadium, thus joining the list of Indian-origin players at the tournament this year, the others being Qatar’s Tahsin Mohammed Jamshid, DR Congo’s Samuel Moutoussamy and Australia’s Nishan Velupillay. Sarpreet had a major role to play in New Zealand’s first goal, with Elijah Just exchanging passes with him and captain Chris Wood before putting the ball into the back of the net. He was taken off in the 92nd minute of the match, being replaced by Jesse Randall. Who is Sarpreet Singh? Born in Auckland, New Zealand on February 20, 1999, Sarpreet currently plays for Wellington Phoenix, on loan from Serbian club TSC. Sarpreet’s parents hail from Jalandhar, Punjab, and ran a grocery store in Auckland. The 27-year-old played for Onehunga Sports in his youth before signing for Wellington Phoenix in 2015. He played with the A-League team till 2019, when he was spotted by scouts for Bayern Munich while playing for New Zealand at the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup. It was announced in July 2019 that Sarpreet had signed a three-year deal with the German giants. Four months later, he became the first Indian-origin player to play in the Bundesliga, Germany’s top-tier football league, when he made his debut for Bayern in as a substitute for Brazilian Philippe Coutinho in the last eight minutes of their 6-1 win over Werder Bremen. In June 2022, it was reported that Sarpreet was close to signing a deal with newly promoted Bundesliga side Werder Bremen. However, Werder themselves pulled out of the deal due to a significant case of osteitis pubis that Sarpreet had suffered. Sarpreet had been loaned out to FC Nurnberg for the 2020/21 season and then to SSV Jahn Regensburg in 2021/22. He was loaned out to the latter club for the next season but his return to competitive football was delayed that year due to a mistake Jahn Regensburg while registering the loan. It left him ineligible to play until January 1, 2023 when the mid-season transfer window opened. Sarpreet then spent a season at German side Hansa Rostock before moving to Portugal to play for Unaio de Leiria. He joined TSC last year and then returned to Phoenix on loan. Sarpreet made his senior debut for New Zealand in a friendly against Canada on March 24, 2018. His first goal came in India, incidentally, when he scored against Kenya at the 2018 Intercontinental Cup which was held in Mumbai. He also assisted both the goals that New Zealand scored against India in that tournament as they beat the hosts 2-1.
Meet Sarpreet Singh, Indian-origin New Zealand star who made his FIFA World Cup debut
