When FC Bengaluru United needed a goalscorer most, Lijo delivered. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

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

His father, a fisherman from Erayumanthurai near Thoothor, would return from the sea in the early hours of the morning. Rest could wait. First, he would clean his son’s boots, keep his jersey ready and arrange the football kit before finally lying down after a night of work.

For Lijo, now 24, those routines became part of the backdrop to goals that arrived at the right time for FC Bengaluru United. As the club chased promotion after years of near misses, the Tamil Nadu forward delivered when the season entered its most unforgiving stretch.

FC Bengaluru United secured promotion to the Indian Football League 2026-27 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 near-post header. GMSC equalised after the break, but the draw was enough for FC Bengaluru United to finish second on goal difference and earn promotion alongside I-League 2 champion Delhi FC.

It was not a one-match story either. He had also scored in the 3-1 win over Delhi FC and the 4-1 victory over Sporting Clube de Goa, giving Bengaluru United attacking thrust during the final run-in of the campaign. The finish in Mumbai completed a decisive spell for a player who had travelled through Chennai, Kolkata, Kerala and Tamil Nadu football before arriving at this point.

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

“I would say that Lijo was the top performer in the team so far, including the local league,” Mohanraj told Sportstar. “If you see Lijo’s performance, overall goals and assists, he has been outstanding.”

Mohanraj was careful not to reduce FC Bengaluru United’s promotion to one player. He spoke about a collective effort, with different players contributing at different moments and significant work being done away from the spotlight. But he also believed Lijo’s contribution deserved wider recognition.

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

That recognition has taken time. Lijo’s profile carries the markings of a footballer who has moved through several 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 spells 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 endured. On his profile, Lijo lists clinical finishing, agility, positioning and endurance among his strengths. During FC Bengaluru United’s promotion run, those qualities found a bigger stage.

For Mohanraj, too, the season carried the weight of a coach still carving his own path on the touchline. After ending his playing career in 2020, he worked with India’s age-group setup, including the Under-20 national team, before taking charge of Tamil Nadu in the 2024-25 Santosh Trophy.

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

“These are the challenges I like as a coach,” he said. “For eight years, we didn’t qualify for the final round. I liked the challenge and I took it. And then we reached the final round.”

FC Bengaluru United appointed him head coach in January 2025 for the I-League 2 season. He guided the club to a fourth-place finish in 2024-25 before being reappointed for the following campaign. The 2025-26 season then delivered the breakthrough, making promotion an important early marker in his club coaching career.

The campaign itself became an examination of belief. 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 only three goals.

The I-League 2 season, however, did not begin smoothly. The team drew its first two matches, later lost away to Delhi FC and, in Mohanraj’s words, twice felt as though promotion had slipped out of reach.

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

The coach said the challenge was not merely tactical. It was about finding the right words after dropped points, rebuilding confidence and asking players to remain committed within a difficult domestic football ecosystem. Some players had arrived late, others had gone months without competitive matches, and the squad had only a short window to prepare before the league began.

Mohanraj’s message to his players was simple: control only what was within 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, the only thing you can do is your job in the best possible way.”

That message also aligned naturally with Lijo’s own journey. His rise was built not only on goals, but also on the kind of unseen labour that rarely enters the match report: a father returning from the sea, cleaning boots before sunrise, arranging a kit before finally taking rest.

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

Published on May 20, 2026