Football fan culture in India !

source:https://khelnow.com/football/fifa-u-17-world-cup-2017-india-fanclub-blue-pilgrims

Glory Glory Manchester United (GGMU), Common you Gunners (COYG), Forca Barca, Hala Madrid and sooo onnn !

These are some chants used by football fans to cheer their respective football clubs all over the world. Many football fans in India support clubs playing in giant foreign leagues like La Liga in Spain, Premier League in England and Serie A in Italy.

It feels amazing to be a part of something big and watch matches and cheer for them. I personally support Arsenal , but what I have realised is fans in India take our national league for granted. No one was talking about football in India except some parts like Kolkata, Kerala, Northeast and Goa.

In recent times India football is growing a lot. Our current FIFA rankings are 104 and 55 for men’s and women’s national team respectively. Along with the growth in Indian football our fan culture is also evolving.

source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BlueTiger_tifo_BluePilgrims_2018.jpg

Blue pilgrims are an organized fan base for our national team and their members are working very hard to spread and enjoy this beautiful game !

At club level football in India teams like ATK Mohun Bagan and SC East Bengal have one of the oldest rivalries in the history of Asian football and is always seen as similar to that of Celtic and Rangers in Scotland. The record attendance of 131,000 was set in 1997 in a Kolkata Derby match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal when they clashed in a Federation Cup semi-final match.

source:https://ebultras.wordpress.com/2015/12/19/east-bengal-mohun-bagan-6-sep-2015/

Indian clubs are too developing fan bases and have have been successful in doing so. Some of the main supporters club are

• East Bengal Ultras
• Mariners of Mohun Bagan
• Manjappada of Kerala
• West Block Blues of Bengaluru
• West Coast Brigade of Mumbai
• Highlanders Brigade of Northeast

source:https://scroll.in/field/966863/indian-football-meet-manjappada-the-12th-man-of-kerala-blasters-and-isl-s-biggest-fan-group

They will gradually grow more with the merging of the India Super League and I League till 2023. This will create unified football league in India like the ones in European countries.

This is just a step to create an awareness about our national league which is currently in action in the state of Goa and also for the fans who support foreign clubs to also develop interest in Indian football and start supporting Indian clubs and start watching matches in the stadiums !