Football in India

India has over a billion people and a national football team ranked outside the world’s top 100. This article covers football in India: its governing body, its leagues, and its national teams.

Nearly a Century on the Pitch

GK0052

1937

AIFF Founded

India’s football governing body is formally established

2014

ISL Launches

The Indian Super League begins as a city-franchise tournament

2019

ISL Becomes Top Tier

FIFA and the AFC recognise ISL as India’s highest division

2026

Record 6th SAFF Women’s Title

India’s women beat Bangladesh 3-1 to win their sixth title

The long arc: Football has been organised in India since 1937, but the domestic game restructured itself twice in one decade, first with the ISL’s 2014 launch, then its 2019 promotion to the top tier.

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Timeline

• 1937: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is formally established, on 23 June.
• 2014: The Indian Super League (ISL), a city-franchise tournament, kicks off in October.
• 2019: FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recognise the ISL as India’s top-tier league. The older I-League becomes the second tier.
• 2026: India’s women win a record sixth SAFF Women’s Championship title, beating Bangladesh 3-1 in the final.

Must Know

• The All India Football Federation (AIFF) governs football, futsal, and beach soccer in India. It was founded on 23 June 1937.
• The AIFF is headquartered at Football House, in Dwarka, New Delhi.
• The Indian Super League (ISL), launched in 2014, is India’s top-tier men’s football league. The I-League is the second tier.
• Sunil Chhetri is India’s all-time top scorer and most-capped player, with 95 international goals.
• India’s men’s national team is nicknamed the Blue Tigers, a name used since 2013.

Good to Know

• India’s men’s team reached its highest-ever FIFA ranking, 94th, in February 1996.
• India’s men have won the SAFF Championship a record nine times. Their most recent title was in 2023, at Bengaluru.
• The Indian Women’s League, founded in 2016, is India’s top-tier women’s football league. Its first season began in Cuttack, Odisha.
• In 2021, Chhetri’s international goal tally passed Lionel Messi’s, drawing global attention to Indian football.
• Women’s football in India was run by the separate Women’s Football Federation of India until the early 1990s, when it was absorbed into the AIFF.

Test Yourself

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1. In which year was the All India Football Federation (AIFF) founded?

1937

1947

1919

1950

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Great to Know

• India’s men’s team sits outside the world’s top 100, despite the country’s enormous population and cricket-scale sporting infrastructure. This gap is a recurring subject of debate among football administrators.
• The women’s team tells a different story. A record six SAFF titles make India the most successful side in the region, even as the men’s team struggles at the continental level.
• The ISL’s 2019 promotion to top-tier status came bundled with the I-League’s demotion. Critics argue this weakened, rather than strengthened, the domestic pyramid below the top flight.
• Football competes with cricket for sponsorship and media attention in India, a structural challenge shared with other sports like Hockey.

Current Affairs

• 6 June 2026 — India wins a record sixth SAFF Women’s Championship. India beat Bangladesh 3-1 in the final, at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao, Goa. Pyari Xaxa (42′), Sanfida Nongrum (46′), and Lynda Kom (82′) scored for India; Bangladesh’s Ritu Porna Chakma equalised just before half-time. This was India’s sixth SAFF Women’s title, a tournament record, and its first since 2019. India went undefeated through the tournament, winning all four matches, scoring 18 goals and conceding just one. Aveka Singh won the Golden Boot with 4 goals, Sanfida Nongrum was named MVP, and Panthoi Chanu won Best Goalkeeper.

Football and chess are two very different sports with growing followings in India. See GK0062 — Chess in India for the country’s rise in chess, including D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa’s recent world-level wins.