Messi’s grand visit only underscored the harsh truth: India cheers for icons, not the sport itself, as domestic football crumbles under neglect, stalled leagues, and a system unwilling to reform.
Lionel Messi’s visit to India has been the flavour of the week. And yet, I found myself strangely unmoved.
Don’t get me wrong—I have been a devoted admirer of the diminutive Argentinian for years and would jump at the chance to see him up close. But under the circumstances, a self-imposed boycott felt more honest. Because how does one celebrate a footballer while the sport itself lies in the ICU in this country?
It is estimated that the promoters who brought Messi to India spent close to Rs 120 crore to make the trip happen. That figure reportedly includes Messi’s appearance fee, the cost of a private jet, and other operational expenses. The recovery plan was predictable: corporate sponsorships, government tie-ups, steep ticket prices (Rs 10,000– Rs 30,000), private meet-and-greets reportedly costing Rs 10 lakh per person, and television rights. A heady cocktail of money, power and glamour ensured that an ambitious nation could afford 72 hours of footballing royalty.
Now contrast that spectacle with the state of football back home.
The last year has arguably been the darkest phase in Indian football’s history. The country’s top league, the Indian Super League (ISL), is in limbo, with no takers for its commercial rights. The season remains stalled, leaving nearly 300 Indian footballers effectively jobless. The crisis has deepened to the point where icons like Sunil Chhetri and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu have had to issue public SOS messages on social media, pleading for intervention.
Reliance ran the league for nearly a decade before pulling the plug, citing sustained losses and irreconcilable differences with the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Matters are no better lower down the pyramid. Even the tender to operate the I-League, India’s second-tier men’s competition, failed to attract a single bidder this year. While much of this reflects chronic mismanagement and incompetence within the AIFF, it also points to a deeper, more uncomfortable truth: widespread apathy towards the sport itself.
Here’s the stark arithmetic. While the total operating cost of one full season of ISL is 100 odd crores, currently the AIFF is demanding a minimum guarantee of around 37.5 crore from any entity that would like to own and market one season of the ISL— that’s marketing and controlling rights for three full seasons of India’s premier football competition for roughly the same amount spent on Messi’s three-day joyride through the country.
Yet, there are no corporates dipping into marketing budgets, no state governments offering “partnership” fees, no wealthy patrons paying for the sport, and not even a strong middle-class rush to buy tickets for domestic matches. Even the central government appears to have stepped away. A Times of India report quoted the sports ministry as saying in no uncertain terms that it “cannot help in funding and running the ISL” and that the responsibility lies entirely with stakeholders. This, even as India prepares to host the Commonwealth Games in 2030 and eyes a potential Olympic bid in 2036.
Then there’s the national team. The Indian men currently languish at 142 in the FIFA rankings—their worst position in over a decade. Recent defeats have come against Bangladesh and Afghanistan, teams that were once considered walkovers. From being regarded as Asian giants in an earlier era to struggling even at the SAFF level, Indian football’s decline has been steep—almost as steep as the rupee’s fall against the dollar.
Consider this: India has failed to qualify for next year’s AFC Asian Cup. So forget the FIFA World Cup. Indian football doesn’t even feature among the top 24 teams in Asia anymore—on a continent widely regarded as the weakest in the footballing universe. This marks a dramatic fall from a time when India featured in each of the last three editions of the same tournament.
All of which reinforces a belief I have long held about sports in this country: Indians don’t love sport; they love sportstars.
