India and the FIFA World Cup

As this is the time of the FIFA World Cup, it is common to see boys and girls updating their statuses in various social media about the ongoing event. The FIFA World Cup is trending everywhere. Even people who know nothing about football get hooked to the FIFA World Cup. It is the time when football rules the lives of every person. But the most notable part of the FIFA World Cup is the fans of the countries which haven’t qualified for the mega event. India is one of them.

  And even though our country doesn’t even come near to the qualifying event of the World Cup, people across the country get hugely excited for this event. People would support various countries based on their favourite superstars who belong to that particular nation. Spain, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Portugal are the favourites among the Indian fans. Indian people are just crazy about the World Cup. And still when the debate about football not getting the required attention and fan-following, the blame is put on us, the people of India. So, imagine the type of hype and madness the FIFA World Cup would create if our own nation gets qualified for it. So, what exactly is missing, that India with the second largest population in the world has failed to produce a bunch of players who can represent us in the global stage?

The blaming game will continue through many stages. Everybody has to be blamed for this. And within the tenure of the earlier government, India didn’t make any progress. The infrastructure which is required has not been developed as of yet. The type of coaching facilities mandatory for nurturing young talents is not in place. The amount of emphasis which is given to cricket is too much for other sports like football to garnish in our country. While the country’s cricket association deals with crores and crores of bucks, the football body sadly doesn’t even get nearer to it. This is mainly attributed to poor viewership in football. And the media is surely to be blamed for this. With the advent of events like IPL, these channels make special pre-match TV programs and also some silly talk shows (with equally silly names like Summer Slam.) If special TV programs can be made for cricket alone, why are tournaments like the i-league left to the corner? And if the required exposure not given to football, how on earth would people come to know about this beautiful game? But, on a healthy note, fans like me are very much hopeful that the upcoming ISL would be the turning point of football in our country. With this tournament, I do hope that football gets the required attention from Indian people. It would also provide a glamorous stage for the football players. And with the association of superstars like Salman Khan, John Abraham and Ranbir Kapoor along with the idols of the country Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly among the list of owners of the franchises in the ISL, I do hope that large number of people would indeed be attracted towards the tournament, which in-turn would provide the much-needed attention towards football in India. And with that hope, I also do pray that India gets qualified for the FIFA World Cup in the near future, probably in 2022 or beyond that. With the 2017 U-17 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by India, the future of football seems to be on the brighter side of our hope. I also wish for more exciting and happier news in the near future. Till then, enjoy the FIFA World Cup.