Facts about history of Football in India.

1. Football was introduced in India to unify the Indian Army. India is home to some of the oldest football clubs in the world and the third oldest competition, The Durand Cup started in 1888.

2. In the 1800’s Calcutta became the hub of Indian Football and Sarada FC the oldest Indian Football club.

3. In 1889 India's oldest current team Mohun Bagan A.C. was founded as Mohun Bagan Sporting Club.
The first Indian Federation, the Indian Football Association, was founded in 1893 but did not have a single Indian on its board.

4. In the late 1930’s the Indian Football team used to frequently travel to countries in Asia Pacific.

5. The 1948 London Olympics was India's first major international tournament, where a predominately barefooted Indian team lost 2–1 to France in the opening match, failing to convert two penalties.

6. India qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup finals as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents. But the governing body AIFF decided against going to the World Cup, being unable to understand the importance of the event at that time. Reason shown by AIFF was that there was the cost of travel, although FIFA agreed to bear a major part of the travel expenses, lack of practice time, team selection issues and valuing Olympics over FIFA World cup.

7. The suggestion that India did not participate in the 1950 WC because they wanted to play barefoot which was banned by FIFA is completely untrue.

8. The period from 1951 to 1962 is considered the golden era in Indian football. Under the tutelage of legendary Syed Abdul Rahim India became the best team in Asia. The Indian team started the 1950s with victory in the 1951 Asian Games which they hosted.

9. At the 1956 Olympics they finished fourth, this is the second time India made second history in the world of football.

10. India participated in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan where they finished fourth.

Post the 1960s Football in India has seen a gradual decline with the team travelling less and losing important tournaments.

Lack of political and corporate interest has made sure that the finances required to fund football at grassroots never reached the needy footballers. However over the past few years certain corporate have taken keen interest in owning and managing football clubs as well as promoting a new league in the country called the Indian Super League (ISL).

It will take time to reach the glory days of the period between 1945-1962 however we hope the renewed interest of today can make that happen in the future.

regards

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