Will football ever be bigger than cricket in India? 

One interesting thing about this ordeal, India’s u-17 team beat Atlético Madrid’s u-17s 4-1 and drew 3-3 to Real Madrid’s. So the population does play a factor into quality at a young age, but better coaching and league quality is needed for this quality to improve into the senior team.

As Indians its very important for us to realize that we can be good at both Football and Cricket. The 2 sports can mutually co-exist.

As someone who lives near Kerala, I can tell you that the entire state is filled with die-hard football fans! Almost every teen I've seen in Kerala isn't without a Messi/Ronaldo/Neymar jersey!!! Edit: Yes, Bengal and North-East have a similar footballing culture as well

So, the thing is that our dad's generation watched the 83 WC live and they became cricket fans and when we were born the only sport that our dads would watch is cricket. This is how cricket was rooted in our cultures. Maybe the coming generation would be more attached to football and the distribution of the following would be more even.

as a Indian I want both sports to do well, hopefully someday in next 25-30 years we will be competing in WC

Hello Tifo, India is now ranked 98th in the men's FIFA ranking after beating Lebanon. Edit: This is my 1st highlighted comment. Thanks Tifo ❤ & thanks everyone for the engagement. This wasn't possible without you all as well.

For your information rn India ranks 98 and hoping to go upward. India now won Intercontinental cup few days ago. And football culture is quite old in some places of India like Kolkata, West Bengal, Kerala, Mumbai etc. Mohan Bagan was the first Indian team to beat British Navy , Asia's oldest club rivalry is in Kolkata between East Bengal and Mohan Bagan, but in terms of popularity and bigger fan following Kerala is dominating. We have 2nd largest football stadium in the world, but still we are lagging behind in many points like infrastructure for Football perticularly , some development, awareness, encouragement and lot of investment.

Not an Indian, but I would say the popularity of football is very much regional. Kerala and Bengal are two states I can think with die hard football fans. Kolkata during world cup looks completely different, and not to forget the much rivaled Kolkata derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.

As an indian i wanted both the sports to prosper just like how england has top lvl teams for both cricket and football.hope it will happen in coming years

2015 we ware at 176 now we are at 98 we see improvement Change in playing style Earlier when we reached 96 under constentine we did it by playin long ball tactics Now we are keeping the ball passing it and growing up

Yes, it would be. Our Cricket team and Cricket board is busy making as much money as possible and that has affected the National Team's performance vastly. If India does not win anything in Cricket in this decade and the National Football team is able to perform well in AFC Asian Cup then maybe it can spark a revolution. India already has a big football fanbase with more than 200M+ followers. The aim is to make football popular in major states of India. Right now, the fanbase is majorly in the North-East area.

Football is already a significant rival in popularity in many parts of urban North India, not to mention South and East India, among children who play at local ground

Update: India's ranking is now 98th 1:44 why recently youtube videos have started to have Arunanchal Pradesh(NE part of India) as desputed territory. Similarly Aksai Chin was suddenly changed to disputed territory on most of online media around 2019.

Understandable that the parts of Jammu & Kashmir under Pakistani or Chinese Control are greyed out. But to grey out Arunachal Pradesh, a state under Indian control based on Chinese claims seems lopsided .

the biggest problem with indian football was that there was no national level league until the 2000s, and no proper league structure until literally 2 years ago. Even if our population is 1 billion, you can't just expect some random guy playing in some city level league to play in europe the next day without a proper structure and development path.

As someone who started watching football properly around 2010 WC, I've seen the sport grow quite significantly since then, with social media and internet access playing a huge role amongst the younger generation to help the sport grow. Still a long way to go but good to see Indians finally switching focus to other prominent sports of the world now, with Premier League and UCL playing a huge role in attracting new fans to the game.

It's a vicious cycle created by incentives. Here in India even a cricketer at the national level gets paid more than international (Indian) football players. It also helps cricket that the Indian Premier League generates so much income that even these national players get a million rupee payday once a year. Compared to that the contracts in football pay a pittance, which then encourages less people to pursue the sport, however talented they may be. This causes a potential top talent to pursue academics and get a stable job rather than become a pro footballer.

20 years ago, these opportunities did not exist, even the infrastructure was the bare minimum. Due to widespread (and expanding) internet culture, the Indian youth is catching up. One pleasant change that I noticed was the conversation around football. In 2015 when I was eavesdropping on a conversation, a teen was quickly shut down when he was comparing cricket and football. But now, when I was sitting in a bar in Chennai, a group was talking about the Prem and using phrases like "the streets won't forget". It made me hopeful for what the country has in store for the next coming decades.

We won 🏆 the Hero Inter Continental cup yesterday and India reached a final after such a long time Yet many peoplein my friends Group and office didn't even know about the match and most people don't even know who our players are. We are Proud of you our Brave Blue Tigers Thanks for winning 💙 although there is a few of us we will support in wins n losses from our hearts

During the 80s and 90s it was common for 120,000 people watching the derby between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal at Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata. Nowadays, with the bucket seats, the seating capacity has reduced considerably but the stadium remains full during the El Classico of Bengal.... that is how popular football is in Bengal, India.

the cultural impact that cricket has in my country is huge, but I would be happy if football grows atleast to a rate which can be compared to cricket.

Now india is doing good in football. Recently indian football team has started to beat respectively higher ranking teams . Even indian clubs are also doing well in afc champions league and afc cup. Even india's rank has improved.

Football to grow in India and cricket to grow in rest of the world is my dream as a fan of both

Football already have a dominance in some states of india like kerala, west bengal and whole northeast.....

In 10 years from now I am sure with ISL growing and better footballing facilities we will see a player from India playing the premier league. India has immense talent not just in sports but other professional fields. all people need here is right environment that enables to them grow as a person. slowly and steadily India is putting things in order where it is due.

Good video. Rather than having a pan- India approach to Football, i think a mature approach is to spread and deeply entrench it in few places where the game is very popular already - North East of India, Kerala, West Bengal and Goa. Tap these places first through investment for couple of decades. I think this approach will have better return on taking football to next level in the country. Make these the bastions (which they already are) and drive footballing culture around it.

Despite being a Indian pro utd & football fan i must admit cricket has got every right to get popular in India it all started from 83 world cup our first silverware they did it against all d odds( England the hosts in their home condition,West Indies Australia used to be contenders & teams like new Zealand & south Africa were better than us). world cup used to be a holiday trip for our cricketers as per different interviews by ex cricketers...Indian football team need to do something to grab the audience of 1.4B

There are pockets of the country where football has traditionally been bigger than cricket and most likely always will be - the fact is the commercial stranglehold that cricket has, particularly in the established commercial and political hotspots i.e. the urban centres makes sure the influence of the bat speaks more than the (foot)ball, as it were. Of course this also reflects a lot of cultural hegemonic structures - for example why Cricket is particularly loved in the Northern/Central parts of the nation which often dictates every aspect of national policy - an imbalance that can and has manifested in many 'Self/Other' dichotomies. That said, the revenue aspect in football for the global game is thriving and will continue to do so, even if it can be at the detriment of the local game. I am not alone in the overwhelming majority of football fans for whom a club in Europe is a part of my daily routine but would probably struggle to name more than a dozen national team players. Cricket in India, you may rest assured - even if you are growing complacent and arrogant in your financial clout. But that's a discussion for another day

The answer is obviously yes. The day they become better at football, they will start supporting it more. India already has a huge amount of football supporters but still less than cricket supporters.

Would love to see more content on Indian Football.🇮🇳

Respect to Tifo football for covering India.

Why many Indian football fan hates cricket...... Don't hate Cricket that we are good at ....let make India Superpower at both FOOTBALL and Cricket 🤞❤️

Indian football isn't the country as a whole but rather a few regions. Kerala, Goa, West Bengal, 7/8 states in Northeast India are the only permanent football zones in India with a few other states like Odisha and Punjab being potential football zones.

Football never gonna Beat Cricket

informative video as always, the only correction I'd make is, Mumbai is definitely a football hotspot. We have turf grounds in almost every other suburb of the city now, I'd estimate 4 out of every 10 people you meet is a a fan of a PL or Spanish club. The only limit to the talent in this country is the upside commercially. Football as a career in India is not something parents want for their kids so it remains a hobby or mere passion for many.

Amazing video and covered all the bases and nuances of Indian video. Football is actually very popular in rural eastern India but poor scouting and lack of training facilities are holding these young players back.

Tifo Viewers Let me tell you there is no dearth of passion for football in this country. The EPL Big 6 & Barca-Madrid are wildly popular & have legions of followers. I myself am a diehard gunner from 2014 & hope to be at the Emirates some day. Till then, I'll keep supporting my beloved Arsenal from afar, like millions in this majestic country of ours.

With the exception of England. All test playing cricket nations have modest and a much less high profile football team. And only the Netherlands are a strong football country with a somewhat okay cricket team. It’s almost mutually exclusive to be good at both.

Speaking as an Englishman, I've never got cricket, it just seems painfully boring in comparison to football. I'd prefer it if we were more like Europe where basketball was the secondary sport.

My dad who is from India and lived there during the 60s-70s said that football was much more popular than cricket within the lower to working class demographic whereas cricket was more popular for more affluent peoples. He says he saw a dramatic upturn in popularity within poorer communities after India won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, which he reckons is probably the most significant sporting accomplishment in Indian history.

I have been to India and Cricket is so so big there that it's not even comparable to any other country following any other sport. It's Brazil for Football but on Steroids. Cricket can never be replaced in India

*As A Indian Who Watches Football .I Can Surely Say Indian Football Can Become Bigger But Indian Politics Gonna Destroy Indian Football Rising* Yesterday We Just Won Intercontinental Cup Against 2nd Tier Asian Team Lebanon💗 Love From India,Kerala❤🎉

Hey i have to say please use the right india map arunachal pradesh has been and is a part of india same with ladakh and Kashmir

If India do make it to the 2026 WC, and we see some Julian Alvarez-esque insane kid tearing it up, regardless of whether or not India does well, it might propel India into a sprinkle of European football, which would be quite interesting.

I think, it's rather the infrastructure than anything else. The rural-urban divide makes it almost impossible for a relatively poor individual to sustain in a city. Apart from that, the funds available to the football board are ridiculously low compared to cricket, even if we put the profit they gather into consideration. I think in about 15 years, we will see a great rise. India u16 recently defeated Real Madrid u16 so there's that.

I don't know if Football will ever be bigger than cricket in India but this video coming out itself suggests that TIFO has a significant viewership from India .

Here in South Asia, there are certainly parts in every country crazy for football but tbh the subcontinent has a history with cricket, football won't be able to overtake that. It's like saying rugby becomes more popular then football in Brazil

EDIT : Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part on India! . Report this video for greying it out. I come from Goa. Which for a ling time formed the backbone of Indian football along with Bengal (Kolkata ), Kerala, the North Eastern states and to some extent Punjuab. All the regions named still supply about 90% of players. Outside of these it was all cricket. Football will die out in these regions eventually as well, due to the following main reasons: 1. ISL was forced on us in 2014. While it had its benefits such as improved tv coverage, marquee signings etc, it aimed to forcibly spread football outside of the aforementioned regions and into the (potentially lucrative) metro cities that had no cultural heritage or history of football. The forced new trend did not last long, Stadiums ran empty in all cities except for Kochi (of Kerala) and Kolkata, while the legacy clubs from traditional regions were left to die out slowly, tjhoose still exisitng now only play in state leagues and act as feeder clubs for isl teams which bar fc goa have done zero work in grooming local talent. 2. AGE FRAUDS. India's youth leagues and u17,u19 teams are plagues with 23-24 year olds who forge their birth certificates in absence of standardised birth registration process in India. Jharkhand (look up Gaurav Mukhi), Bihar, Rajasthan and some north east states are the big culprits here but none bigger than AIFF that takes zero steps preventive steps and in fact this practice is widely encouraged by coaches right from national to grassrooots level.This has double harm of blocking out deserving young players in teenage and wasting money on overage frauds who then go on to fail at senior level. 3. Steady inroads by bcci and cricket, The inception of IPL in 2009 created a big pull for every youngster and his parents that one day he will gorw up to be a pro cricketer, and more importantly for Indian households, earn well. And this reflects on the local level as well. Cricket clubs here in Goa already pay better than football clubs. The number of footballers here still exceeds cricketers by a mile but those who make it in cricket earn better than their footballer peers and also have a higher ceiling to aim at in the form of IPL which is now consistently producing rags to riches stories. There are other aspects such as pathetic coaching setups, deficient nutrition, non existent scouting in multiple regions and even more corruption in AIFF and FSDL which someone inside the setup would be better aware of.

India is doing pretty well we are currently on a 6 match unbeaten run where we have defeated Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon which are higher ranked than us..🎉

Indians do provide a massive viewership base for european football.. but it needs investment from the popular big clubs and leagues to put in effort in this direction , to make indian fans more accessible to them...happy to see india related content in tifo football....on the side note... didn't know that even Arunachal Pradesh is considered as a disputed territory in international media... it shows india has a long way ahead to put forth its narrative ... forget discovering and reinventing its love for football and showing it to the world

I'm Indian and I hope Football will surpass Cricket popularity here because no one else in the world care about this game except us and Pakistan 😂

I hope quality channels like Tifo does take it's chance at Indian football by creating regional content channels. Indian football is on a slow but upward trajectory, and I think it will be a big thing in the next 10 years. Hopefully as big as cricket.

Needs a lot of investment. Better pitches, training facilites, staff. And the National team needs that miraculous run for people to latch onto. Something they can take pride in. And of course the one superstar player, who can become the face of the sport. I don't see any of these things happening

Football is a growing sport & the Indian men's team is doing well But I'm more worried about the corruption in the system. They only care about filling their pockets instead of building infrastructure, Coaching, Talent encouragement. FIFA recently banned India due to breach of laws.

Another reason for people following a particular sport is because sports gives you dopamine whenever you support a winning team whenever the win you also get a sense of winning with them although it's not the case with football in India currently but I am sure in the future is going to be great. For me personally yesterday we won a huge tournament I support a club called Chelsea. And all we did this season is loose an escape relegation the blue tigers of India won this cup and I can say atleast one of my blue team won something this year😌💙

As a Indian we want would like to do good in every sport but when it comes to comparing with cricket we don't want cricket is our first priority forever cricket is not just a sport it's emotion ❤❤❤

1:43 why tf Arunachal Pradesh is shown disputed.

Great video Tifo but just to point out that Arunachal pradesh(state with lines on eastern side of the map) border is in dispute with china as Britishers drew lines with ball pen on a small scale map that actually covers over 300kms in reality and no dispute over where it belongs to or where the citizens want to be part of. You could have just marked the boarder in dotted lines. Dont want the world to think we are having more issues that we already do.

Unlike the US in India it isn't a mentality thing, people don't see it as girl's or weak Sport it all depends on how Indian National team does.. just qualifying for the World Cup would be Massive but that's a big ask.

the heat is a problem in india. cricket is more suited to indias heat as less running. football is intense running and often in warm countries its played in the evening in the dark to avoid heatstroke. india doesn't have the lighting, pitches to play in the dark or daytime as a result. so it has an entry barrier that will probably mean cricket always stays bigger until it develops into a first world economy.

It'll take a superstar rising out of India to make football popular here. Somebody that the country can be proud of and is playing in one of the biggest clubs as one of the best players. If not an Indian, at least a player of Indian origin settled in Europe. It won't have the same effect but it'll be something.

What 1983 cricket world cup was to the older generation, 2018 & 2022 Fifa World Cup was to ours. Many people are interested in football now. What helped is that timezones were near too.

Unleash the Lionhearted Spirit: Believe in Indian Football, Ascend to Greater Heights!

Honestly, coming from Portugal I kinda hate how football is spreading thoughout the planet. I just think that countries like different sports and that's beautiful. I love the fact that Canada loves Hockey, americans like american football, australians with aussie rules, in new zeland it's rugby, Japan baseball and so on... There is no need for these countries to have football, there is no need to invest in them and expand to new markets. Football is already the biggest sport BY FAR. Let other countries love their own sports.

Football unites the world so it's not hard to imagine it overtaking cricket someday

Football and Cricket started growing at same time in India. Cricket became famous because it had only a handful of competing teams, among which some are already our neighbors(Pakistan, Srilanka, Bangladesh). So with only about 20 teams in cricket competition became easy. Then our team won 83 CWC and India started growing in cricket more. Football has a totally different scenario, 200+ teams compete. And we were playing with our neighbors(China, Bangladesh, Kyrgyztan) who were not very good. Thus we never improved as compared to European teams and never got financial exposure from government.

With Indian cricket having a icc trophy drought..its time to switch over to Football who are gradually doing the right thing

I don't understand why indian football fans hate cricket! Nothing good ever comes from hate. All we need is to support football. But football's development should not come at the cost of cricket

There is definitely big gap in skill at grass-root levels, so it will take some time for us to do something at the international level. Looking forward to a decent display at Asian Cup though.

One reason why I feel Football would overtake cricket in India is that the BCCI plays too many Cricket matches with no story-line / rivalry which would inevitably lead to the decline in viewership and people moving to watch other sports. A decade / two ago, almost every cricket series had a bit of rivalry to it, coupled with World Class players on both sides, which made every match an interesting prospect to watch. These days the Indian Team plays tours featuring 3 ODIs, 5 T20s, 3 Tests with little almost every few months, which kills the buzz the games used to bring. Of late, only 3 nations (India, England, Australia; Maybe include New Zealand) can boast of of having world class players, but there's only so much matches that these nations can play amongst themselves and keep the audience interested / entertained. Remaining nations aren't even competitive enough on the national stage.

We have a lot of young talent that are physically gifted. Just need the structure and support systems to nurture them and help them grow. Football has been consistently growing in popularity.

Cricket is popular in India coz only a few countries take it seriously, so you'll always be in the top 5. Irrelevant "sport".

The Messi and Ronaldo era attracted many football fans, many started with curiosity to see them. With both of the superstars now virtually retired, I don't know if there would be any footballing superstar in near future to generate such popularity

They have got it wrong, states like Bengal Kerala and North East should be the launchpad instead of Delhi and Mumbai.

India just won intercontinental cup by beating lebnon 2-0 So i guess indian football improving rapidly

As a Indian I love football. 🇮🇳

Football can be as Popular in India as Cricket is in England but there's no way Football can break Cricket's hegemony in India especially after the IPL. If IPL wasn't there it might have already surpassed it but with IPL coming in 2008 , Cricket has only grown in Popularity

I am Indian, it's good to hear such india oriented informative video

Places like Bengal in India has 150-200 years of rich footballing history... Mohunbagan is the National Club of India and also the oldest football club in Asia... The shift towards cricket mainly started after 1983 world cup but now things are changing...

Yes football will be more popular than cricket in India. I can already see signs. But that doesn't mean crickets value will diminish. It will be like Australia and England were cricket, desite footballs popularity manages to pull full stadium crowds and viewership.

It’s the past 5 generations that are encouraging football to its peak, it will change soon hopefully. There is huge football culture here…

At 5.:36 you really said that India unexpectedly won the world cup. it wasn't unexpected like fouling the ball in the box. It was Hardwork .we know how much it meant for us to this day and that's what what we live for.

As an Indian football is bigger than cricket , We love both the sports but football has just grown in popularity and tbh it is the best sport you can play

I care more about football than cricket eventhough I am an Indian.

Missed opportunity to show Messi as a short man in the game

thank you Tifo football for covering India... states like Kerala , Goa and then north east parts have a huge fan following for football

Tifo, first of all correct India's Map. You've shown Arunachal Pradesh (in Northeast) as a conflicted territory which is not the truth. Don't fall to Chinese propaganda! Btw thanks for putting spotlight on the Indian football ❤

India should never give up its law on dual citizenship just to cheaply get overseas talents.

In some areas of india is football is miles ahed o cricket... Like Bengal, kerala, goa.. northeast area have provided good players to the country. We are going up so fast.. We won the intercontinental cup just yesterday.

India probably will succeed in growing the sport long term by proper grassroots Coaching and more local playing facilities. If you grow up playing and watching, the culture changes.

Football scene is huge in India. Even if it may seem small in comparison to cricket in %. But then again, they're world champions in cricket. It's hard to move away from something they do best to compete in a crowded sport. Football will still be popular, but never overtaking cricket.

In Kolkata, Kerala, Goa and North East it is already been number 1 sport

India wants more support for football..A few states only have support to football like Kerala, West Bengal, Goa and some north east states... remaining states are more support to cricket.. Especially northern states of India.. That is the main problem which the football is not growng in India

It is a cultural thing I guess, I went to a school (UK) that was probably 40% white, 40% South Asian, 10% other. Although plenty of South Asians watched a bit of football, Cricket was by far more popular and when it came to playing sports it was all about hockey and cricket. You see that reflected in the lack of non white/black English football players (black people way over represented numbers wise). All my friends were Indian and they would talk about cricket, the IPL launched at the time and they got me into it a little (I chose Rajastan Royals), but it never excited me the way football does. As a white working class boy, cricket seemed middle class and boring to me and just wasnt part of my culture.

I loved watching Yan Dhanda play for Swansea. Its a shame he can't play for India

As an Indian from Kolkata,i can tell that Football is a huge sport over here, yes Delhi Mumbai i can agree it's not right up there but the southern parts of the country like Kerala, Bengaluru,here in the east coast,North East,it's a huge huge sport... especially the premier league...you can easily find thousands of guys wearing kits on the road....so it's not about that,the infrastructure needs to improve and we need a lot of players playing in top top leagues....I've said to many of my friends that i dream i can see someone from India playing in the PL...Sunil Chhetri came very close but unfortunately didn't happen. But i hope it'd be soon and then we can grow in the international scene.

It will, but this is a very long and even painful progress. Football only gains momentum since 2014 when the Super League was formed. But even then, besting the likes of Uzbekistan, UAE, Oman and China are needed to be done.

I am an ardent fan of Tifo. But please do not screw with our maps. You are showing Arunachal and Kashmir as a disputed territory. would you then show Ukraine as part of Russia?

I am an avid football & cricket fan ,but football won't ever displace cricket in 100 years or more in India.

India's affinity in football increasing day by day.. and when it is uploaded in Tifo , you have to know it is something really extraordinary is going to happen.