Is it right to blame Cricket for Indian Football's failures?

Summary

• The Indian Football team recently lost to Hong Kong in the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers
• Cricket is targeted at Indian Football's failures lately
• The Indian Football team has won just one game since 2024

India is one of the oldest countries to play Football. The insane rivalry between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal FC is documented well. Even before World War 2, the country had a huge passion for the sport, especially in the eastern parts. Just after World War 2, India had a great chance to become a Football powerhouse, but in vain.

India did have a good run at the Asian level, winning a Gold medal in the Asian Games and other tournaments. Unfortunately, some questionable decisions in the past and the current negligence mean no improvement of the sporting culture in India whatsoever. However, the failures of Indian Football have been attributed to the success of Indian cricket, which is an inability to acknowledge reality.

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In 1950, India was invited by FIFA to take part in the FIFA World Cup. While many stories go by claiming Indian players could not afford to buy shoes to play in the tournament, the reality was different. AIFF decided not to take part in the tournament, as they saw it as a secondary tournament to the Olympics. Instead, India took part in the Helsinki Olympics in 1952.

Eventually, India never got an opportunity to test themselves against the best players in the world, especially after the decline of the sport in the country from the 1970s. While Football and Hockey declined in India, Cricket rose to the fore, thanks to the World Cup win in 1983 by Kapil Dev and Co. Before doing so, Indian Cricket had one of the worst situations to deal with.

The need for improvement at the grassroots levels in Indian Football

The BCCI faced a lot of financial challenges itself and overcame them by fighting, instead of crying about the success of other sports. Corruption is widespread in every sporting organization in India and in the majority of other sports in the world. The difference is that BCCI still cares about their sport and intends for the national team to succeed.

AIFF has no intention to revive Indian Football whatsoever. The sport has to improve from the grassroots levels. Once known for a unique play in the 1950s and the 1960s, the current Indian players have no direction for their future. ISL has been banned for the 2025-26 season, which signifies the rock bottom situation hit by the sport in the country.

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Many Indian Football fans blame the lack of attention the sport gets compared to Cricket. Well, that's the case for most sports. Unless a team or an individual starts winning, fans don't rush to watch them. It's the case with Neeraj Chopra, the Indian Hockey team, Badminton players, and even cricket teams of the past.

Blaming Cricket for the failures of Football is nothing but hiding away from reality. There is a need for investment in good coaches, infrastructure, development at the grassroots levels, talent scouting, selection process, and everything else needed to create a good team. Instead, Football fans are invested in poking their nose at a sporting team which has stood on its own.