Indian-origin player Sarpreet Singh was named in the starting line-up for New Zealand’s 2026 FIFA World Cup opener against Iran at the Los Angeles Stadium on Tuesday.
He is one of four players of Indian origin taking part in the quadrennial tournament in North America.
New Zealand will participate in a World Cup for the first time since 2010 and only the third time overall.
Who is Sarpreet Singh, the Indian midfielder who plays for New Zealand?
Sarpreet grew up in Auckland, where his parents, originally from Jalandhar, ran a supermarket, and always loved football.
He started at the Wynrs Wynton Rufer Soccer Academy at the age of seven and joined the Wellington Phoenix Academy in 2015.
Sarpreet was part of the New Zealand team at the U-17 Oceania Cup and the U-20 World Cups, and his performance in the latter – he scored one goal as New Zealand reached the last 16 – was good enough for clubs in Europe to take notice.
In 2019, Sarpreet was picked by German giants Bayern Munich, becoming the first New Zealand player since Wynton Rufer (Werder Bremen) to be signed by a Bundesliga team.
However, his toughest challenge came in 2020. Just as he was about to make his breakthrough with a move to newly promoted Bundesliga club Werder Bremen, Sarpreet was diagnosed with a significant osteitis pubis injury, a phase he called the toughest of his career.
While Sarpreet’s career in Europe has had its ups and downs, he has had much more success in his domestic career, having been part of the New Zealand team since 2018. He scored three goals and seven assists in 28 appearances for the country.
Published on June 16, 2026
