For the first few days of his vacation, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu found himself playing tour guide. He and his wife were in Norway, enjoying the short break between the SAFF Championships and the pre-season camp ahead of Bengaluru FC’s upcoming domestic season. A few days in the countryside, and then it was back to Oslo, a city Sandhu once called home.

For three years, Sandhu lived in the Norwegian capital, plying his trade as a goalkeeper for Stabaek in the country’s first division football league. It was here that he became the first Indian to play in a top-flight European league and the first to play in the Europa League, the continent’s second-tier football competition.

“This is the place I used to go for dinner, this is where we used to meet after games, where I sat in the dressing room…” Sandhu told Scroll about walking down memory lane with his wife. “I’ve done that so much, she’s already annoyed.”

Greener pastures brought him to Bengaluru FC ahead of the 2017-18 Indian Super League season. But his latest trip to Northern Europe was not just a vacation. It was also a training stint.

“I have always stayed in touch with the goalkeeper coach [of Stabaek, Espen Granli],” Sandhu said. “I asked Espen if I could come train with him for 10 days. He was happy to hear that.”

In previous years, Sandhu’s off-season would see him staying at home and working on a fitness program drafted for him by the team management.

The 2022-23 season, though, was a long one for Sandhu. Bengaluru FC lost in the Indian Super League final to ATK Mohun Bagan (now renamed Mohun Bagan Super Giant) on penalties. But Sandhu would, more recently, star in the penalty shootouts for India at the South Asian Football Federation Championship.

In the semi-final against Lebanon, and then again in the final against Kuwait, Sandhu threw every inch of his 6-foot-5 frame behind the ball to make the crucial saves in the shootout to help India win the title for the ninth time. And this was barley a few weeks after the team had won the Intercontinental Cup.

He is an in-form goalkeeper. Yet he is looking for new ways to keep himself fit and sharp.

“The purpose of coming here was to stay sharp and not slip down in the off-season, not put on weight and eat more and more and more…,” said Sandhu, now 31.

“Last year was a bit different because I got married in this [off-season] break. A year before that everyone was in a bubble. This time there was an opportunity to think outside the box. How do I elevate myself even more than I have in the past? Because the competition is fierce. For me to maintain my level, I have to do something different every time.”

Since 2016, Sandhu has been the first-choice goalkeeper for the national team. He has seen several changes in the team line-up during that time. The latest team under coach Igor Stimac has been praised for its flair and fearless, aggressive intent.

Especially with the new crop of talented youngsters that have come into the team – such as, but not limited to, Lallianzuala Chhangte , Mahesh Singh Naorem, Anirudh Thapa and Sahal Abdul Samad.

Sandhu, however, doesn’t see the change as a surprise.

“It was more about when it will happen,” he said.

“With time, these boys understood how they want to play, how the coach wants us to play. And with the league being longer, they got more chances to play, keep their composure and they stayed sharp in matches. They are more ready to prepare for games than in the past years.”

But just as Sandhu had taken a leap of faith in 2014 – choosing to end his time at East Bengal to move to Norway – the man from Chandigarh hopes the younger players in the team will get out of their comfort zone.

“It doesn’t need to be Europe, it just has to be somewhere where you will develop, and that’s where you will struggle,” he said.

“Without struggle there is no development. I just hope that they keep challenging themselves and try not to be in their comfort zone too early in their career.”

At the moment, the Indian team has been putting on a show.

Within the space of a month, they played nine matches, remained undefeated, and won two tournaments – playing an attractive brand of football throughout. But Sandhu asserted that there is a need to look towards the longer-run, especially with the AFC Asian Cup coming up in January.

Also read – Glitters but not gold: The target for recent SAFF Championship winners India remains the Asian Cup

And that is one of the reasons why he was adamant on making the trip to Oslo.

“It was nice to visit those memories and walk those paths again and show myself the amount of work I put in to be where I am,” said Sandhu.

“There’s always the bigger picture we need to look at, and I look at it to remind myself of the kind of work that I’ve done, and not stop.”

He recalled an incident where a snowstorm caused him to miss the bus to a training session. He had to brave the weather, wade his way through the snow and ice to make it to the practice ground.

“I remember tearing my jeans after falling on the ice while running to training,” he added.

Now, older, more mature and calmer (by his own admission), Sandhu is on firmer ground.