Vishal Kaith

Vishal Kaith (born 22 July 1996) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Indian Super League club Mohun Bagan.

Having come up through the state level ranks for Himachal Pradesh, he was recruited by the AIFF to play for the under-16 and under-19 national sides before joining the AIFF Elite Academy in 2011 to play under-19 national league, before being picked up by Shillong Lajong.

Vishal Kaith joined Shillong Lajong after spending a year at the AIFF Elite Academy on 21 July 2014.

He played an important role in title winning run of the reserve team in Shillong Premier League and conceded just 10 goals from 17 games throughout the tournament.

He made his official debut in the second game of his teams' 2014-15 Indian Federation Cup against Salgaocar and was adjudged as the Man of the Match despite a 2–1 loss.

Kaith would go on to obtain the Man of the Match award in his second first team appearance against Mohun Bagan despite a 1–0 loss.

Kaith made his senior I-League debut on 28 March 2015 against Sporting Goa in a 1–1 draw but was sent off in the 50th minute for a handball outside the box.

Kaith showed good progress in pre-season for the new season and he became a pivotal part of the club.

He started in the final of 2015 Shillong Premier League against Royal Wahingdoh on 21 November where he made a big mistake by throwing the ball to Royal Wahingdoh Forward, Nagen Tamang which resulted in an equaliser but Lajong managed to win the final 2–1 in extra time.

He started in the first match of 2015-16 I-League season against Mumbai FC which ended in a 0–0 stalemate.

This was Vishal's first ever cleansheet on professional level Under the guidance of Thangboi Singto, Kaith became the first choice goalkeeper for Shillong Lajong in entire season.

He started in fifteen games and kept five important clean sheets with Shillong finish sixth in league.

He also played in Lajong's all four games in 2015–16 Indian Federation Cup where Lajong defeated East Bengal in first leg of quarterfinals 2–1 and second leg ended in a 2–2 draw after extra time.

Lajong lost to Mohun Bagan in first leg of semi-finals 5–0 and second leg ended in a 0–0 draw.

On 25 May 2016, Indian Super League club Pune City signed Kaith on loan from Shillong Lajong for the third edition of Indian Super League where he was third choice keeper and made no appearances during the season.

He returned to Lajong ahead of 2016-17 I-League season.

He made his competitive return in Lajong colours in a 3–0 loss to defending champions Bengaluru FC.

He played in all league games and kept three cleansheets.

Lajong ended their campaign with a 1–1 draw to eventual champions Aizawl FC.

He also played in all group games of Federation Cup where first two games ended in a 3–2 loss to Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan respectively.

He received a straight red card in the seventy fifth minute of last group game against DSK Shivajians which ended in a 3–2 win but not enough to help Lajong qualify for semifinals.

On 7 July 2017, Vishal Kaith signed for FC Pune City permanently with the transfer fee reported to be 80 lakh Indian Rupees.

He made his Indian Super League debut on 3 December 2017 in a 1–0 loss to Chennaiyin.

7 days later, he kept his first cleansheet in next game against Jamshedpur in a 1–0 away win.

He started in both legs of semifinal against Bengaluru FC where the first leg ended in a goalless draw and second leg in a 3–1 loss.

He kept 7 cleansheets in 17 games in the league.

He also started in the 3–2 loss to his former club Shillong Lajong in round of 16 of inaugural Super Cup.

The next season, he missed the pre season due to national duty.

He played his first game of the season in a 1–1 draw to Delhi Dynamos which was the first game of 2018-19 ISL season.

After starting in first four league games, he lost his number one spot to Kamaljit Singh and failed to make any more appearance.

On August 31, 2019, Vishal Kaith signed for Chennaiyin on a long-term permanent deal with the club after spending the previous three seasons at Pune City.

He made his debut for Chennaiyin on 23 October 2019 in a 3–0 loss to FC Goa.

4 days later, he kept his first cleansheet in a 0–0 stalemate against Mumbai City.

Chennai finished fourth in regular season and qualified for semifinals.

He started in both the legs against Goa as Chennai won first leg 4–1 and lost second leg 4–2 but qualified for final on a 6–5 aggregate score.

He was in between the sticks in the 2020 ISL final as Chennai lost to ATK 3–1 at Fatorda Stadium.

This was Vishal's first ever major final.

He kept 4 cleansheets in 20 appearances in the season.

He played his first game of 2020-21 ISL season in a 2–1 win against Jamshedpur on 24 November 2020.

5 days later, he kept his first cleansheet of the season in a goalless draw against Kerala Blasters.