Vatta Parambath Sathyan (29 April 1965 – 18 July 2006), known popularly as V. P. Sathyan, was a captain of the Indian national football team who played in the centre back position. He was named the AIFF player of the year in 1995.
Sathyan started his career in 1983 representing Kerala in the Santosh Trophy National championship. He attended the South Zone camp for Indian probables under Amar Bahadur in 1985. Strongly built and a capable defender, he did enough to get into the National team to the 1985 SAF Games in Dhaka. It was in 1986 that his career began to flourish as he represented the country in the Nehru Cup in Thiruvananthapuram and the Seoul Asian Games.
The late eighties brought forth some of his glorious moments. Sathyan's exploits with the once formidable Kerala Police team are well documented in the Indian football's history. He was a key member of the Thiruvanthapuram team, which won the Federation Cup twice in 1989-90 and 90-91. From Kerala Police, he went to Kolkata in 1991 and played for two seasons, one in Mohammedan Sporting Club and one in Mohun Bagan before returning to Kerala Police again and then moving over to Indian Bank. Sathyan served the bank since 1995, initially as a player and then as the team's coach from 2001.
Sathyan became the captain of the Indian team in 1991 for the World Cup qualifiers in Beirut and Seoul. He led Kerala to the Santosh Trophy title in 1992. Sathyan was the captain of the gold-medal winning Indian team in the 1995 SAF Games in Chennai.[1]
Sathyan was adjudged the AIFF player of the year in 1995, and that perhaps was the highest recognition for this largely unsung hero of Indian football. He had begun to make a mark in coaching, and was assistant to Stephen Constantine in 2002 when India toured South Korea.
