| Denechandra Meitei | |
| Fullname: | Yendrembam Denechandra Meitei |
| Birth Date: | 28 March 1994 |
| Birth Place: | Manipur, India |
| Position: | Left back |
| Youthyears1: | 2008–2009 |
| Youthclubs1: | Mohun Bagan |
| Youthyears2: | 2009 |
| Youthclubs2: | Sambhalpur Academy |
| Youthyears3: | 2011–2013 |
| Youthclubs3: | Pune |
| Years1: | 2013–2014 |
| Clubs1: | Pune |
| Caps1: | 1 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2016–2017 |
| Clubs2: | Ozone |
| Caps2: | 1 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2017 |
| Clubs3: | Sagolband United |
| Years4: | 2017–2018 |
| Clubs4: | Churchill Brothers |
| Caps4: | 15 |
| Goals4: | 0 |
| Years5: | 2018–2019 |
| Clubs5: | NEROCA |
| Caps5: | 4 |
| Goals5: | 0 |
| Years6: | 2019–2020 |
| Clubs6: | TRAU |
| Caps6: | 12 |
| Goals6: | 0 |
| Years7: | 2020–2023 |
| Clubs7: | Kerala Blasters |
| Caps7: | 9 |
| Goals7: | 0 |
| Years8: | 2022–2023 |
| Clubs8: | → Odisha (loan) |
| Caps8: | 14 |
| Goals8: | 0 |
| Years9: | 2023- |
| Clubs9: | Punjab |
| Caps9: | 0 |
| Goals9: | 0 |
| Nationalteam1: | India U23 |
| Club-Update: | 21:34, 4 March 2023 (UTC) |
Yendrembam Denechandra Meitei (born 28 March 1994) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Indian Super League club Punjab.
Born in Manipur, Meitei started playing football from the age of 10 years.[1] He initially trained at a local stadium to improve his technical ability.[1] He eventually managed to make it into his district team and then the Manipur football team in the youth nationals.[1] Then in 2008 he was signed by Mohun Bagan A.C. to join their academy.[1] After a one-year stay at the academy, Meitei joined the Sambhalpur Academy in Orissa.[1] However, due to problems with both academies in terms of how they taught academics, Meitei dropped out of both.[1] He then went back to Manipur to play for a local club.[1]
Then, after going back to Manipur, James Singh of Mumbai F.C. recommended Meitei to trial at Pune F.C. for a spot in the Pune F.C. Academy.[1] Meitei trialed for the spot in the academy and passed.[1] While with the Pune F.C. Academy Meitei had won the I-League U19 twice.[1]
On 10 October 2013, Meitei made his professional debut for Pune F.C. in the I-League against Mohun Bagan A.C. at the Balewadi Sports Complex in which he came on in the 89th minute for Pierre Douhou as Pune won the match 2–0.[2]
On 5 August 2020, it was announced that Meitei would join Kerala Blasters from TRAU FC.[3] He made his first appearance for the club on 29 November 2021, against Chennaiyin FC.[4] On 6 May 2021, Metei signed a new three-year contract with Kerala Blasters, keeping him at the club until 2024.[5]
Meitei was included in the Kerala Blasters squad for the 2021 Durand Cup,[6] and played his first match against arch-rivals Bengaluru FC on 15 September, where he received a red card and the match ended in a 2–0 defeat for the Blasters.[7] He played his first match of the 2021–22 Indian Super League season as a substitute for Nishu Kumar against Bengaluru itself in the 88th minute of the, which they lost 0–1.[8]
On 6 July 2022, Odisha FC announced the signing of Meitei on a season long loan deal from the Blasters.[9]
Meitei has represented India at the under-23 level in which he played for them in a tournament held at Bangladesh.[1]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | AFC | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Pune | I-League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| Ozone | 2016–17 | I-League 2nd Division | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| Churchill Brothers | 2017–18 | I-League | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 17 | 0 | ||
| NEROCA | 2018–19 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | |||
| TRAU | 2019–20 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 12 | 0 | |||
| Kerala Blasters | 2020–21 | Indian Super League | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2021–22 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Kerala Blasters total | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |||
| Odisha (loan) | 2022–23 | Indian Super League | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 0 | |
| Punjab | 2023–24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 56 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 64 | 0 | |||