Why can’t India watch the FIFA World Cup?
“Of all the events in human history, the one to attract the largest audience was not a great political occasion, nor a special celebration of some complex achievement in arts or sciences, but a simple ball game- a soccer match. On a June day in 1978, it is claimed that more than a thousand million people tuned in to the World Cup final between Argentina and the Netherlands. This means that something like one-quarter of the world population stopped whatever they were doing and focused their attention on a small patch of grass in South America where 22 brightly clad figures were kicking a ball about in a frenzy of effort and concentration”. These are words from the introduction of the book “The Soccer Tribe” authored by Desmond Morris, well known author, who took the world by storm with his work The Naked Ape.
Morris is described as a human sociobiologist and was a keen follower of the “human animal”. It was in 1977 that he became a director of a professional football club in Britain. The world of football was not the same afterwards. Morris took the football aficionados to the unseen and unheard aspects of the game, and The Soccer Tribe was the result of his studies and research. The book was published by Jonathan Cape in 1981. Why Desmond Morris now? You are sure to ask.
Football is the world’s most popular sport. Twenty-two players clad in their wonderful uniforms fighting for the control of a ball and the “classic struggle” they dish out to score the goal is the most hallucinating 90-minute show filled with speed, stamina, strength, and skill. The movement of the players in the maidan and the manner in which they dribble the ball past the opponents remind one of Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kuchipudi, and ballet all rolled into one. Some of the players are highly skilled gymnasts who throw off their rivals with their magic and wizardry.
Come this June 11. The United States, Canada, and Mexico are jointly hosting the quadrennial world championship for the title of Football Maharajas. This edition of the tournament will see 48 teams, an increase of 16 teams from the past seven tournaments. National teams from Africa, Europe, America, Oceania, and Asia will lock horns to take home the FIFA Gold Cup and cash prizes to the tune of crores of dollars. For more than a month, the whole world will discuss and debate the skills and stamina of the teams of their choice. The southern State of Kerala is festooned with flex boards and larger-than-life-size posters of some of the football kings, which include 41-year old Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) and 39-year-old Lionel Messi (Argentina). Interestingly, Messi’s teammates, Tomas Aranda, is just 19, and another colleague, Franco Mastantuono, is 18!
The 39-day event will see 104 high-quality bouts featuring the power-packed African style, the speed and all-around skill of Europeans, and the Latin American gharana. Visual treat, a fiesta for the eyes and mind, and a lot of memories are what each World Cup event offers the spectators.
But the sad news about this sporting spectacle is that fans in India will not be able to watch the FIFA World Cup because no TV channels (including Doordarshan, the public broadcaster) are telecasting the event. Though there are more than a dozen exclusive sports channels in India, none of them has ventured out to air the event. A sad and shocking state of affairs. I remember Doordarshan telecasting the matches live in 1986, an era when sports channels were unheard of. Though some of the channels like Sony Sports, ESPN, etc. earned a lot of goodwill by telecasting some editions of the FIFA World Cup, this year, no Indian channels will bring the matches to our drawing rooms. World Cup matches are occasions when fans in Kerala set up large TV screens in public places and sit in rapt attention watching the proceedings. Not in Kerala alone, Goa, Bengal, Punjab, and Rajasthan are some of the states where people miss the chance to watch the footballing greats in action.
“This is the saddest and most unfortunate period in my life,” said legendary football coach Rufus D’Zousa of Fort Kochi. Rufus, addressed as Football Uncle by his students and people in Kochi, is still active in the maidan despite his 91 years. For the last six decades, he has been training and coaching budding footballers without taking a break for even a day. “The World Cup matches are events where one can see the greatest players, their skills, movements, and artistry. It is only by watching these matches that youngsters would get attracted to the game. The coaches, too, stand to gain a lot because they can understand the tactics and strategies adopted by the participating teams. Football is a dying sport in India. If there is no telecast of the matches, the losers will be our own youth. And the biggest loser is India,” said Rufus.
Football Uncle is on the dot about the state of the game in India. During the 1970s and 80s, we had players like Inder Singh, Manjot Singh, Parminder Singh, Shyam Thapa, Ranjit Thapa, Bernard Perera, Marto Gracious, and teams like JCT Mills, Tata Sports Club, Mafatlal Sports Club, Simla Youngs, and the three Calcutta giants. Most of these teams have vanished into thin air, and footfall in the country, too, has disappeared.
If lack of sponsors is the reason behind Doordarshan’s reluctance to telecast the World Cup, the authorities are reminded that in 1986, the public broadcaster pocketed Rs.20 crore as profit by airing the Live and recorded matches. There were no marketing managers or executives during those days. Doordarshan has come a long way since then. It has a plethora of channels, including an exclusive sports channel. Isn’t it possible for Doordarshan authorities to get the rights to telecast the event to a population of 141 crore, and the final result would be a win-win situation for FIFA, the Government of India and the game of football. It is not the time to show a red card to soccer lovers of the country.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
- Is the Govt of India showing a ‘red card’ to the country’s football lovers? - June 2, 2026
- Upanishads targeting a global audience - May 27, 2026
- Venugopal is no accidental lawyer, but a titan in the ocean of law - May 25, 2026
