indian football

Football was introduced to India by the British regimental teams and missionaries during the period of colonial rule. The first clubs in the country were formed in 1880s and two of them are still the most famous clubs in India: Mohammedan Sporting and Mohun Bagan. Mohun Bagan is the only Indian club that has won major domestic tournament in 1980s, as part of centenary celebrations, it was declared the National Club of India and special postage stamps were released on the occasion by the government.

British regimental teams in the Calcutta contested the three major domestic tournaments, Indian Football Association (IFA) Shield in Calcutta, the Rovers Cup in Bombay and the Durand Cup in Simla. Of these, the last is the oldest in India. It was started in 1888 and is the third oldest football tournament in the world after the FA Cups in England and Scotland. IFA Shield was founded in 1893. This tournament is still held annually. East Bengal formed in Calcutta in 1924 by football fans from that region in 1990.

Indian teams started touring Malaysia, Singapore, China and Japan in the late 1930s. The 1948 London Olympics was India’s first major international tournament. A predominantly barefooted Indian team played on a wet and cold surface in London and lost 2-0 with France. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics the Indian team froze in the cold and failed 10-1 by Yugoslavia and a team that had won the silver medal in the 1948 Olympics. India qualified regularly for the Olympics until 1960.

In the 1960 Rome Olympics India again performed creditably, losing 2-1 with powerful Hungary, drawing 1-1 with France and losing 1-3 with Peru. Hungary and Peru scored the match winning goals in the closing stages of the games. France also equalized just five minutes before the final whistle. India also qualified for the 1950 World Cup at Brazil. However, a lack of foreign exchange, the long sea journey and the problem of barefooted players forced India to pullout from this tournament. Both the 1951 Asian Games at Delhi and the 1962 Asian Games at Jakarta, India won the gold medal in football. The 1962 Asian Games gold medal remains one of the greatest achievements of Indian football because of the difficult circumstances in which it was won. The Indian team showed remarkable dedication and adaptability to win the final 2-1 against South Korea.

To provide international exposure for Indian players, the AIFF started the Jawaharlal Nehru International Tournament in 1982. Uruguay, Argentina, the USSR, Yugoslavia and Poland are some of the major nations participated in this competition. Uruguay won the inaugural Nehru Cup in 1982. In 1997 India’s most successful club coach of the l990s Syed Nayeemuddin was appointed as the national coach until the conclusion of the 1998 Bangkok Asiad. India beat the Maldives 5-1 in the 1997 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship final. In the same year they reached the semi final of the Nehru Cup International tournament for the first time.

AIFF started the Federation Cup in 1977 as an annual tournament for the leading Clubs of India. The winners are East Bengal in 1996, Salgaocar in 1997 and Mohun Bagan in 1998. Since 1999 this tournament has not been played due to the withdrawal of the sponsors.

Now the Indian team having some promising players but government and federations are not giving such importance to bring out the real probabilities of the Indian football. In recent years there was some promising wins accounted for the Indian team but because of some reasons such as “much importance in case of cricket, lack of good sponsors, poor availability of skill building facilities, lack of good quality tournaments, poor club management and ignorance about the professionalism of football” Indian football still in the developing stages. So let’s pray for the precious efforts from the part of the government and associations to show the hidden powers of the Indian football players to reach and succeed at least qualifying round of the world cup.