Story of an Indian football fan (Part-1)

Journey through childhood

I didn’t grow up as a football fan. My love for the game came much later—after I had already started working.

Sure, I dabbled in football during my childhood for a while, but back then, there was no YouTube, no social media feeds, and no 24/7 sports coverage. If you didn’t catch a match on TV, you missed it. Football leagues from around the world felt like distant legends.

The FIFA World Cup was the only global football event we got to watch every four years. My first real exposure to professional football came in 2006, when I watched the World Cup with my brother. From that moment on, I fell in love with the game.

I would jump at every opportunity to play football. But in those days, there were no structured coaching programs, no academies—just kids kicking a ball wherever they could. Cricket ruled the streets, and most of the kids I played with were primarily cricketers.

Our games were pure chaos—a swarm of kids chasing the ball, kicking it in every direction, no rules, no strategy—just mayhem. No one knew about positions, off-the-ball movement, or defending (who even does that? 😆).

My introduction to Indian football

After school, life took over. I finished my graduation, got a job, and football slowly faded from my daily routine.

Then came Indian Super League (ISL)—a game-changer. One day, while working in Chandigarh, I saw a commercial for ISL. That ad changed everything.

ISL painted a dream—a vision of Indian football becoming something bigger, something global. And man, I bought into that dream hard.

From that moment, I followed everything about Indian football. I watched every single ISL match, followed every team, and sometimes even rewatched highlights after watching the entire game live.

At the time, I didn’t even notice the lack of pace or quality in the game—because I had nothing else to compare it to. I was just happy watching football, no matter the level.

I didn’t even realize that many of the international stars playing in ISL were aged veterans in their sunset years (man, were they slow!). But at least this made me curious about the Indian players competing alongside them. That curiosity soon led me to the Indian National Football Team.

They were struggling—to say the least.

Back then, Stephen Constantine was the coach. We had just been knocked out of World Cup qualification and were now grinding through the Asian Cup qualifiers.

I had no idea what I was signing up for.

The heartbreaks, the humiliations, the false dawns—this was just the beginning of my rollercoaster journey with Indian football.

In the next part, I’ll take you through the ups and downs of our time under Constantine.