Born in Tinkitam, Sikkim, India Baichung is the former captain of indian Football team and is considered to be the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena. He started his education in St. Xaviers School, Pakyong, East Sikkim and won an eventually Scholarship SAI to attend the Tashi Namgyal Academy in Gangtok. He went on to play for several school and local clubs in his home state of Sikkim. A stellar performance at the 1992 Subroto Cup brought him to the notice of the football establishment. Former India goalkeeper Bhaskar Ganguly spotted his talent and helped him make a move to Calcutta football. In 1993, at the age of sixteen, he left school to join the professional East Bengal Club in Calcutta. In 1995, he moved to JCT Mills, Phagwara, which went on to win the India National Football League that year. Bhutia was the top scorer in the league, and was chosen to play in the Nehru Cup. In 2002 he returned to India and played for the Mohun Bagan AC for a year before returning again to the East Bengal Club, helping them to win the Asean Cup (Association of South East Asian Nations) Club Championship. In 2004 he married his long time girlfriend Madhuri Tipnis. He signed up to play for Perak, the Malaysian championship club, from August to October 2003 and returning to East Bengal for the regular season. He continued to play for East Bengal till the end of 2005-2006 season. In 2006, he joined Mohun Bagan AC and has remained with them since then. He has recently renewed his contract for a further two years from 2008 to 2010 with the Mohun Bagan. In 2009 Bhutia participated in the dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa and he won the competition along with his partner, choreographer Sonai Jaffer beating Karan Singh Grover and Gauhar Khan in the finals. In 2010, he started Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools in Delhi in partnership with Carlos Queiroz and Nike. In 2011 Bhutia joined United Sikkim as coach and Manager. In 2014 he contested from the Darjeeling constituency in the Loksabha Elections as a candidate of Trinamool Congress.