Football in India- All you need to know!

Football, the fifth most followed sport in India, is now on its path to achieve the target of having one of the best National Teams in Asia by the year 2047, which is known by the project called "Vision 2047" - the Indian Football strategic roadmap released by AIFF.

Just like in other nations, India do have a 8-9 months of proper divisional league football, also counting in the international breaks proposed by FIFA for National teams to play friendlies against other nations.

The topmost divisional football league in India is called as Indian Super League, which consists of 12 teams, as of year 2023. The Relegation-Promotion system between ISL and I-League (the 2nd divisional football league), starts from 2024-25 season, even though the 2nd division winners get promoted to 1st division in 2023-24 season without paying the participation fee.

Grassroots in India are fed well by the investments by the Reliance Foundation along with AIFF and has started a Developmental League which includes the reserve teams of top clubs playing in both I-League as well as ISL. The winners and runner-ups of this competition get a chance to play at the Hero NextGen Cup where academy teams of top English Premier League clubs will compete with them.

Indian Arrows is another aspect of the growth of Indian Football with a view of youngsters who thrived well and are capable to play at utmost intense atmosphere. It was brought back by the AIFF after the FIFA U17 WC, being the club was disbanded before due to financial reasons.

A brighter future and glorious pathway for our Indian Football is paved ahead and it is us, youngsters, who should follow that path and contribute either as a true fan or a hard-working professional football player, for the wellness of this sport in this great nation!