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Michael Chopra

He is an English football player. He plays as a striker. He is son of an English mother and an Indian father.

Michael Chopra (born 23 December 1983 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is an English footballer playing professionally for the Premier League side Sunderland.
A striker, he has previously played for Newcatle United and Cardiff City and has spent loan spells at Watford, Nottingham Forest and Barnsley. He has represented England at the Under-15, Under-16, Under-17, Under-18, Under-19, Under-20 and Under-21 levels.
The son of an English mother and an Indian father, Chopra made news for being the first player of Indian parentage to play and score in the Premier League.
Chopra started playing football at a very young age where he was coached by his father and had a prolific career as a schoolboy. He went to Alan Shearer's former school, Gosforth High School, in Newcastle, and owing to his goal-scoring exploits there, and later with the Montagu Boys' Club, he was recruited to the Newcastle United academy in July 1993.
In the 2000-01 season, he scored a total 28 goals for the Newcastle Academy side that reached the final of the FA Premier League Academy Under-17 playoffs. In December 2000 he signed his professional contract with Newcastle. The next season, playing for the Academy Under-19 team, he scored 14 goals in the first 9 games of the season, which prompted a promotion to the Senior Reserves team. He went on to score in the Northumberland Senior Cup final victory over Bedlington Terriers in September 2001. Then in October, Newcastle gave him a squad number. By the end of the season, he had made 17 appearances for the Reserves, scoring 7 goals.
The 2002-03 season started well, with Chopra scoring 9 goals in his first 5 games for the Under-19s as well as the Reserves. In November he signed a new three-year deal with the club, and then on November 6, he made his debut for the senior team, against Everton in the League Cup, substituting Lomana LuaLua. The game ended 3-3, but Newcastle lost in the penalty shootout, and Chopra missed his spot-kick.
He also made his UEFA Champions League debut, coming on as a substitute against Barcelona at the Nou Camp in December 2002, and also played against Bayer Leverkusen before he moved on a month-long loan to Watford at the end of March 2003. He scored a total of 5 goals in just 6 matches, appearing in a FA Cup semifinal against Southampton, and scoring four goals in one match in a 7-4 win against Burnley.
The season ended on another positive note as he finally made his Premiership debut for Newcastle in the 2-2 draw away against West Brom on 11 May 2003. He gained his chance to represent England at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.
In 2003-2004, he played four games for Newcastle before being loaned out to Nottingham Forest for a month in February 2004 where he played 5 games. Returning from the loan spell he played another two games for Newcastle.
In August 2004 he went on another loan, this time to Barnsley. Playing in a total 39 matches in the League One, he scored 17 goals, including a couple of hat-tricks, in the matches against Peterborough United and Huddersfield Town. He also represented them in the FA Cup and the League Cup, finished as the club's top scorer and was chosen as their Player of the Season.
Chopra began the 2005-06 season back in Newcastle's first team squad and played in early UEFA Intertoto Cup ties, also scoring his first senior goal for Newcastle in the 1-3 win against Slovakian side Dubnica on 17 July 2005. On 17 April 2006 Chopra scored his first Premiership goal against Sunderland in the 60th minute of the Tyne-Wear Derby, which ended 1-4. The goal was the fastest from any player in Premiership history, as Chopra had only been on the pitch for 10 seconds after coming on as a substitute.
On 14 June 2006 Chopra joined Cardiff City for £500,000 after turning down a new one-year contract at Newcastle in favour of guaranteed first-team football. Chopra and Cardiff had an excellent start to the season, with 36 points from 17 games leaving Cardiff top of the Championship and Chopra with 7 league goals was announced Championship player of the month for September and October. Chopra scored his first Cardiff hat-trick on 27 January against Leicester City to give his team a 3-2 victory.
Chopra signed a contract extension with Cardiff City on 5 April 2007, and was named to the PFA Championship Team of the Year on 22 April. Although Cardiff dropped out of promotion contention, Chopra had a successful season, ending with 22 goals from 42 matches.
On 13 July 2007, newly promoted Premiership side Sunderland agreed a deal worth up to £5 million, activating a release clause, to sign Chopra on a four year contract. However this caused unrest with some Sunderland fans due to the seemingly high price-tag and his Geordie roots. Chopra made his debut for Sunderland in their 1-0 win over eircom league side Bohemians. In this match Chopra missed a seemingly open goal and ran into his own team mate Dickson Etuhu.
Chopra scored his first goal for sunderland in a 4-0 friendly victory over Galway United.
In July 1999, playing for the England Under-16s against Argentina, Chopra scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory, and was named the Man of the Match. On 27 November 2002, playing for England Under-20, he scored twice against Italy at the Stadium of Light, the game ending 3-5.
Chopra was approached to join the India national football team on the basis of his Indian ancestry. He turned down the opportunity at the advice of his agent, who thought that it would lead Chopra nowhere.

Sunderland
23 December 1983
Source: Wikipedia