Get full access to one story every week, and to summaries of all other stories. Just create a free account

For Karanjeet Singh, a 13-year-old student in a South Delhi school, football began as a casual kick-about with his friends. Nothing serious, nothing worth giving up his life for. That was four years ago. Today, things have changed, as he returns from a gruelling practice session at a football academy in New Delhi. “Today was about tactics, closing down tight spaces,” he explains during his warm down session, dressed in a Liverpool replica shirt.

Singh’s interest in football piqued not because of homegrown heroes, but the changing nature of media consumption: the internet. “When I was growing up, everyone around me was just into cricket. I personally felt otherwise,” he says. “It wasn’t a difficult choice to make either. I was just blown away by some of the skills that some of these international footballers have. I would spend at least 6-9 hours a day on YouTube, watching them, making mental notes of how to execute them, and the next day during practice, I’d try it. 99 out of 100 times I’d fail, but just trying those skills gave me the satisfaction.”

Singh is not alone. He speaks for many Indian teenagers who are slowly taking up the sport, not just as a skill enhancement activity, or even a hobby sport, but with one eye on a professional career. Either in India or, the more ambitious ones like Singh, think Europe. In his case, it’s Liverpool, one of the top clubs in England’s popular Premier League.

A decade ago, football for most Indian teenagers would start as a dream that would typically begin in school but wither away for either cricket or other meaningful callings, outside of sport. Now that is changing. One Karanjeet Singh at a time. There’s a surge happening on the ground, and it is real. In February, the international football federation, FIFA, launched a Mission XI Million programme in India, with an ambitious target of getting 11 million children into the sport. The aim: to take the game to 12,000 schools in 37 cities across the country. But before you start thinking that India might be close to finding a Lionel Messi of its own, it’s important to take a step back and contextualise this surge.

11 million

The number of Indian children Fifa wants to introduce football to, across 12000 schools in 37 cities

How football is closing the gap

There is no doubt about cricket, in spite of everything surrounding the sport, maintaining its status as India’s favourite national pastime. Which is also why Star India recently made a five-year, Rs 16,347.5 crore media rights bet on the Indian Premier League (IPL). But what was once a runaway sport of choice, the default for millions of Indians, is slowly facing competition at the school stage itself.

AUTHOR

Venkat Ananth

Venkat is currently in his tenth year in journalism. Prior to The Ken, he was Deputy Content Editor at Mint as part of the newspaper’s digital team. He also wrote in-depth features on the business of sport for the newspaper. His earlier assignments include Yahoo! (as a columnist) and the Hindustan Times, where he began his career. Born in Mumbai, Venkat holds a Bachelor of Mass Media (Journalism) degree from SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai and a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from Goldsmiths, University of London. He currently resides in New Delhi, where he moved nearly five years ago.

View Full Profile

Subscribe to read this story

The Ken is the only business subscription you need. Questions?

 

Premium

  • 5 original and reported longform business stories every week
  • Access to ONLY India edition
  • Close to 250 exclusive stories every year
  • Full access to over 6 years of paywalled stories
  • Pick up to 5 premium subscriber newsletters
  • 4 original and reported longform business stories each week
  • Access to ONLY Southeast Asia edition
  • Close to 200 exclusive stories every year
  • Full access to all paywalled stories since March 2020
  • Pick up to 5 premium subscriber newsletters

Rs. 2,750 /year

$ 120 /year

India Edition
Subscribe Subscribe
Most Asked For

Borderless

  • 8 original and reported longform business stories each week
  • Access to both India and Southeast Asia editions
  • Close to 400 exclusive stories every year
  • Full access to over 6 years of paywalled stories across India and Southeast Asia
  • Unlimited access to all premium subscriber newsletters
  • Visual Stories

Rs. 4,200 /year

Subscribe
 

Echelon

  • 8 original and reported longform business stories each week
  • Access to both India and Southeast Asia editions
  • Close to 400 exclusive stories every year
  • Full access to over 6 years of paywalled stories across India and Southeast Asia
  • Unlimited access to all premium subscriber newsletters
  • Visual Stories
  • Bonus annual gift subscription
  • Priority access to all new products and features

Rs. 8,474 /year

Subscribe
Or

Questions?

What kind of subscription plans do you offer?

We have three types of subscriptions
- Premium which gives you access to either the India or the Southeast Asia edition.
- Borderless which gives you complete access to The Ken across both editions
- Echelon which gives you complete access to The Ken across both editions along with a bonus gift subscription

What do I get if I subscribe?

The Premium edition gives you access to stories in that edition along with any five subscriber-only newsletters of your choice.

The Borderless and Echelon subscription gives you complete access to The Ken across editions and unlimited access to as many newsletters as you like.

What topics do you usually write about?

We publish sharp, original and reported stories on technology, business and healthcare. Our stories are forward-looking, analytical and directional — supported by data, visualisations and infographics. We use language and narrative that is accessible to even lay readers. And we optimise for quality over quantity, every single time.

Our specialised subscriber-only newsletters are written by our expert, award-winning journalists and cover a range of topics across finance, retail, clean energy, cryptocurrency, ed-tech and many more.

How many newsletters do you have?

We are constantly adding specialised subscriber-only newsletters all the time. All of these are written by our team of award-winning journalists on a specialised topic.

You can see the list of newsletters that we publish over here.

Does a Premium subscription to your Indian edition get me access to the Southeast Asia edition? Or vice-versa?

Afraid not. Each edition is separate with its own subscription plan. The India edition publishes stories focused on India. The Southeast Asia edition is focused on Southeast Asia. We may occasionally cross-publish stories from one edition to the other.

We recommend the Borderless or the Echelon Plan which will give you access to stories across both editions.

Do you have a mobile app?

Yes! We have a top-rated mobile app on both iOS and Android which allows you to read on-the-go and has some amazing features like the ability to bookmark stories, save on your device, dark mode, and much more. It’s really the best way to read The Ken.

Is there a free trial?

You can sign up for a free account to experience The Ken and understand our products better. We’ll send you some free stories and newsletters occasionally, and you can access our archive of previously published free stories. You can stay on the free account as long as you’d like.

The vast majority of our stories, articles and newsletters can be accessed only by a paid subscription.

Do you offer any discounts?

Sorry, no. Our journalism is funded completely by our subscribers. We believe that quality journalism comes at a price, and readers trust and pay us so that we can remain independent.

Do you offer refunds?

No. We allow you to sample our journalism for free before signing up, and after you do, we stand by its quality. But we do not offer refunds.

I am facing some trouble purchasing a subscription. What can I do?

Just write to us at [email protected] with details. We’ll help you out.

I have a few more questions. How can I reach out to you?

Sure. Just email us at [email protected] or follow us on Twitter.