Unfortunately, India failed to qualify for the World Cup Games 2010 in South Africa. However, that doesn’t mean Indians won’t be glued to the tv set for the next couple of weeks. Football is a game played in almost every Indian school, and almost every male Indian schoolchild has some memory of playing it.

Although India won’t be participating in the World Cup Games this year, India won the Nehru Cup last year, defeating Syria 6-5 :

and India also qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, so there’s still a chance for India to play in the next World Cup. The person who has risen to stardom is Baichung Bhutia (बाईचुंग भुटिया). He is from Sikkim, and everyone is depending on him to take the Indian team to glory.

The Indian football clubs to look out for are the East Bengal Club, Mohun Bagan AC, and Dempo FC. The East Bengal Club and the Mohun Bagan AC club have also started clubs for women. However, there is a wide disparity between the attention and coverage mens’ football receives, and womens’ football receives. It also didn’t help the fact that in 2003, the Indian womens team lost to China by 12-0. Whatever happens, best of luck to both the mens and womens football teams!