| Raju Gaikwad | |
| Fullname: | Raju Eknath Gaikwad |
| Birth Date: | 25 September 1990 |
| Birth Place: | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Currentclub: | Diamond Harbour FC |
| Clubnumber: | 47 |
| Position: | Centre-back / Left back |
| Youthclubs1: | Tata Football Academy |
| Years1: | 2010–2011 |
| Clubs1: | Pailan Arrows |
| Caps1: | 14 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2011–2015 |
| Clubs2: | East Bengal |
| Caps2: | 37 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2014 |
| Clubs3: | → Mumbai City (loan) |
| Caps3: | 3 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Years4: | 2015–2017 |
| Clubs4: | Mohun Bagan |
| Caps4: | 14 |
| Goals4: | 0 |
| Years5: | 2015–2016 |
| Clubs5: | → Goa (loan) |
| Caps5: | 23 |
| Goals5: | 0 |
| Years6: | 2017–18 |
| Clubs6: | Mumbai City |
| Caps6: | 15 |
| Goals6: | 0 |
| Years7: | 2018-2019 |
| Clubs7: | Jamshedpur |
| Caps7: | 5 |
| Goals7: | 0 |
| Years8: | 2019–2020 |
| Clubs8: | Kerala Blasters |
| Caps8: | 12 |
| Goals8: | 0 |
| Years9: | 2021–2022 |
| Clubs9: | East Bengal |
| Caps9: | 19 |
| Goals9: | 0 |
| Years10: | 2022–2023 |
| Clubs10: | Churchill Brothers |
| Caps10: | 12 |
| Goals10: | 1 |
| Years11: | 2023 |
| Clubs11: | Delhi |
| Caps11: | 2 |
| Goals11: | 0 |
| Years12: | 2024- |
| Clubs12: | Diamond Harbour FC |
| Caps12: | 2 |
| Goals12: | 0 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2011–2013 |
| Nationalteam1: | India U23 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 4 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2011– |
| Nationalteam2: | India |
| Nationalcaps2: | 23 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | 19:49, 11 March 2023 (UTC) |
| Nationalteam-Update: | 16:18, 6 October 2014 (UTC) |
Raju Eknath Gaikwad (born 25 September 1990) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender for I-League 3 club Diamond Harbour FC. Gaikwad primarily plays as a centre back, but can also play as a full back and is a long throw specialist.
After spending time at Tata Football Academy Gaikwad signed for Pailan Arrows (then AIFF XI) in the I-League. He made his league debut for the club on 3 December 2010 against Prayag United at the Salt Lake Stadium which was also Pailan Arrows's first ever game in the I-League; Pailan lost 2–1.[1]
In July 2011 Gaikwad signed for East Bengal after one season at Pailan and made his debut for the club on 4 February 2012 after missing the first few months of the season through injury.[2]
In June 2015 Gaikwad signed for Mohun Bagan from rival club East Bengal.[3]
Kerala Blasters signed Raju as a replacement for Sandesh Jhingan in the 2019–20 ISL season.[4]
Gaikwad made his debut for the India U23 on 23 February 2011 against Myanmar's U23s in the 2012 Olympic Qualifiers; India U23 won 2–1.[5] He then made his senior debut for India on 21 March 2011 in the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers against Chinese Tapei at the MBPJ Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia; India won 3–0.[6] Gaikwad then won his first championship with India on 11 December 2011 when he helped India beat Afghanistan in the 2011 SAFF Cup.[7] Gaikwad then went on to lead India to win the 2012 Nehru Cup when India managed to beat Cameroon's B team on 2 September 2012 at the Nehru Stadium in the Indian capital, Delhi.[8]
| Club | Season | Division | League | Cup | Other | AFC | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
| Pailan Arrows | 2010–11 | I-League | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 0 | |||
| East Bengal | 2011–12 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2012–13 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 1 | |||
| 2013–14 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | — | 29 | 0 | ||||
| 2014–15 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |||
| East Bengal total | 37 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 70 | 3 | |||
| Mumbai City (loan) | 2014 | Indian Super League | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||
| Mohun Bagan | 2015–16 | I-League | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | 14 | 0 | ||
| 2016–17 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 13 | 0 | ||||
| East Bengal total | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 27 | 0 | |||
| Goa (loan) | 2014 | Indian Super League | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 9 | 0 | |||
| 2015 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 14 | 0 | |||||
| Goa total | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | Indian Super League | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 17 | 0 | ||||
| 2018–19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | |||||
| 2019–20 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | |||||
| 2020–21 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 7 | 0 | |||||
| 2021–22 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | |||||
| East Bengal total | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | |||
| Churchill Brothers | 2022–23 | I-League | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 12 | 1 | ||
| Delhi | 2023–24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 154 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 20 | 0 | 209 | 2 | |||
Statistics accurate as of 6 May 2015[9]
| India national team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals | |
| 2011 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2013 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2014 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 23 | 0 | |
Tata Football Academy
India
East Bengal
2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15
Mohun Bagan
Churchill Brothers