NEW DELHI: Indian men's football team skipper Sunil Chhetri and women's team attacking midfielder/forward Manisha Kalyan have been named Footballers of the Year at the Times of India Sports Awards for their contribution to the sport in 2021. The TOISA 2021 award ceremony took place in the capital on Friday.

The evaluation period for TOISA 2021 was from January 1 to December 31, 2021 and all achievements during this time period were considered by the members of the jury.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian players of all time, veteran Chhetri equalled Lionel Messi's record of 80 international goals in 2021 when scored in India's 3-0 win against Nepal in the SAFF Championship Final.

The 38-year-old is currently tied fifth with Ferenc Puskas of Hungary -- 84 goals -- among active top international goal scorers. Chhetri is also the all-time highest goal-scorer for India.
Manisha, on the other hand, created history in 2021 when she scored against Brazil in an international women's football tournament. In the three matches Manisha played in 2021, she scored 3 goals along with playing a key role in the mid-field.

The 21-year-old from Punjab also received the AIFF Women's Player of the Year and the AIFF Women's Emerging Football of the Year 2021-22 awards.

Chhetri has previously won AIFF Player of the Year award a record 7 times. Along with the Arjuna Award (2011) and Padma Shri (2019), the Government of India honoured Chettri with the Khel Ratna Award in 2021 making him the first footballer to receive the prestigious honour.

This time the esteemed TOISA jury included cricket all-rounder and member of the 1983 World Cup winning team Madan Lal, Olympic medal winning shooter Gagan Narang, former hockey captain and Haryana sports minister Sandeep Singh, veteran Indian athlete Anju Bobby George who was the first Indian athlete to win an athletics World Championships medal, Paralympic Games silver medallist Deepa Malik and Olympic medal winning boxer Vijender Singh.

Mid-fielder Anirudh Thapa, winger Farukh Choudhary, striker/winger Manvir Singh and midfielder Suresh Singh Wangjam were the other nominees in the Men's Footballer of the Year category.

In the women's category, forwards Grace Dangmei, Pyari Xaxa and midfielder Indumathi Kathiresan were the nominees alongside Manisha.