Lijo, the fisherman’s son who was central to Bengaluru United’s promotion to the Indian Football League

Before Lijo K became the striker whose goals helped FC Bengaluru United reach the Indian Football League, another routine quietly unfolded in Kanyakumari.

His father, a fisherman from Erayumanthurai near Thoothor, was returning from the sea in the early hours of the morning. Peace could wait. First he cleaned his son’s shoes, had his jersey ready and arranged the football uniform before finally lying down after a night of work.

For Lijo, now 24, those routines became part of the backdrop for timely goals for FC Bengaluru United. As the club chased promotion after years of near misses, the Tamil Nadu forward delivered as the season entered its most brutal period.

FC Bengaluru United secured promotion to the 2026-2027 Indian Football League after a 1-1 draw against GMSC at the Neville D’Souza Ground in Mumbai. Lijo scored in the fourth minute, meeting Shunjanthan Ragui’s cross with a header close to the post. GMSC equalized after half-time, but the draw was enough for FC Bengaluru United to finish second on goal difference and earn promotion alongside I-League 2 champions Delhi FC.

It wasn’t a one-game story either. He had also scored in the 3-1 win over Delhi FC and the 4-1 win over Sporting Clube de Goa, giving Bengaluru United attacking prowess in the final run-in of the campaign. The finish in Mumbai completed a defining period for a player who had traveled through the football of Chennai, Kolkata, Kerala and Tamil Nadu before arriving at this point.

Former India international Nallappan Mohanraj, the head coach of FC Bengaluru United, said Lijo’s influence went beyond the scoresheet.

“I would say Lijo has been the best player in the team so far, including the local league,” Mohanraj said Sports stars. “If you see Lijo’s performances, overall goals and assists, he has been excellent.”

Mohanraj ensured that FC Bengaluru United’s promotion was not reduced to one player. He spoke of a collective effort, with different players contributing at different times and important work being done outside the spotlight. But he also believed that Lijo’s contribution deserved wider recognition.

“Lijo deserves to be recognized,” Mohanraj said. «People just see who has scored goals. But every player knows what he has contributed to the team and what he has done. This year it was not a one-man team. Many players contributed to the success.»

That recognition took time. Lijo’s profile shows the hallmarks of a footballer who has progressed through various levels of the Indian game. He represented Tamil Nadu in the Santosh Trophy and according to him was still in Class 12 when he first entered the state team setup. His profile also lists him as Tamil Nadu’s top scorer in the first round of the 2024-25 Santosh Trophy with seven goals.

There were stints with AGORC FC in the Chennai League, East Bengal FC in Kolkata, Kickstart FC, Forca Kochi in the Kerala Super League and SAT Tirur in I-League 2. The path was far from direct, but the finishing instinct remained. On his profile, Lijo lists clinical finishing, agility, positioning and endurance as his strengths. During FC Bengaluru United’s promotion round, those qualities were put on a bigger stage.

For Mohanraj too, the season carried the weight of a coach still carving his own path on the sidelines. After ending his playing career in 2020, he worked with the Indian age group, including the Under-20 national team, before taking charge of Tamil Nadu in the 2024-2025 Santosh Trophy.

That assignment brought its own pressure. Tamil Nadu had not reached the final round for eight years and Mohanraj saw the challenge as a test of the same principles he would later bring to FC Bengaluru United.

“These are the challenges I love as a coach,” he said. «For eight years we failed to qualify for the final round. I liked the challenge and took it up. And then we reached the final round.»

FC Bengaluru United appointed him as head coach for the I-League 2 season in January 2025. He led the club to a fourth-place finish in 2024–25 before being reappointed for the following campaign. The 2025-2026 season then provided the breakthrough, making promotion an important starting point in his club coaching career.

The campaign itself became an examination of faith. FC Bengaluru United had built momentum through the Karnataka State League, where it narrowly missed out on the title on the final day despite winning 13 of 18 matches, keeping 15 clean sheets and conceding just three goals.

However, the I-League 2 season did not start smoothly. The team drew its first two matches, later losing to Delhi FC and, in Mohanraj’s words, twice felt as if promotion had gone out of reach.

“This was a very difficult season because it was only one stage and eight matches,” said Mohanraj. «There were self-doubts. But the last person who could give up should be me, because I knew from day one what I built this team for.»

The coach said the challenge was not just tactical. It was about finding the right words after lost points, rebuilding trust and asking players to stay involved within a difficult domestic football ecosystem. Some players had arrived late, others had gone months without competitive matches and the team had only a short period to prepare before the competition started.

Mohanraj’s message to his players was simple: only control what they have in their hands.

«You are here as a football player. You came here as a football player. You have a reason to do this job,» he said. “Even in the worst possible situation, all you can do is do your job in the best possible way.”

That message was of course also in line with Lijo’s own journey. His rise was based not only on goals, but also on the kind of invisible labor that rarely appears in the match report: a father returning from the sea, cleaning shoes before dawn, arranging equipment before finally taking a rest.

When Lijo’s header crossed the line in the fourth minute in Mumbai, it did more than give FC Bengaluru United an early lead. It brought the club closer to a long-awaited promotion, gave Mohanraj his first major success in club coaching and gave a Tamil Nadu footballer from Kanyakumari a moment long before the ball arrived at the near post.

Published on May 20, 2026