Soccer Made in Incredible India

There are about 1.2 billion people living in India and cricket is by far the most popular sports there. so you can imagine how a certain Association would feel if these 1.2 billion people become interested in soccer. Next week, a certain Swiss man is coming to India to find ways to convince the people there that soccer is great.

so I decided to go to Mumbai ahead of that Swiss man to find out if soccer has a chance to succeed in India. I picked a Sunday when Air India FC, a team from Mumbai, played at home.

Gateway of India in Mumbai



a few weeks before my trip, I found out that FIFA just gave money to the All India Football Federation to renovate the main soccer stadium in Mumbai. then I found out the home games of Air India FC were moved to Pune, a city 150 km north of Mumbai. Imagine Grasshoppers Club of Zurich playing their homes games in Basel! Incredible!

so when I got to Mumbai, I asked my hotel to hire a driver to show me around town and to bring me to Pune to see the I League match between Air India FC and Chirag United of Kerala. I also asked the hotel concierge to confirm the kick-off time.

It was not easy. Air India FC does not have their own website. There was no kick-off information in the local newspapers. and when I searched the internet, the answer ranged from 11 AM to 6 PM. Incredible.

After searching and calling, the concierge told me kick-off was 3.30 PM.

I asked my driver how long to get to Pune. About 3 hours, depending on traffic. I told my driver to pick me up at 11 AM on Sunday. I wanted to get to the stadium in plenty of time.

The traffic was not too bad on Sunday. As we approached Pune, it was close to 2 PM. I thought to myself maybe I should look around the city first. But suddenly we arrived at the stadium so I said to myself let's buy the ticket first.

The stadium was located next to the freeway. When we got off the freeway, we went down an one way road to get to the main entrance. The gate was closed. I thought to myself damn the game was at 11 AM and I missed it. The driver honked and a guard appeared. He told us the entrance today was back near where we got off the freeway.

my driver backed up the car and sped down the one way road. in the opposite of all the other cars. Incredible.

we found the entrance and I bought a ticket. 50 rupees or about 1 USD. I asked if it was a seating ticket and was told you have VIP ticket. then I asked the kick-off time. answer was 2.45PM. Incredible.

Sports complex in Pune

I had to climb 2 sets of stairs to get to my section. It turned out I did not have a VIP ticket. I had a VVIP ticket. Incredible.

very very important person?

there were about 100 fans at the game. many were families and friends of the players and some were kids hanging around. in my VVIP section, there were some officials and one guy was there to video the game.

I league match number 139

Air India FC lost the match 3-1. They scored first after 5 minutes due to a comedy of errors by the defense of Chirag United. But Chirag regrouped and dominated the match and was given a soft penalty to tie 1-1. There were two other possible penalties for Chirag but the referee did not give them.

For the first half, Air India played with 5 defenders. After Chirag scored a cracking goal early in the second half, Air India continued to play with 5 defenders. Incredible.

down 2-1, Air India had a great chance to score. there was a mayhem in front of Chirag goal and the goalie was out of position. an Air India player kicked the ball toward the empty net. a Chirag defender was on the ground. the ball was flying just above and in front of his head. he lunged forward and slapped the ball away with his hand.

every player stopped and looked at the referee. he waived play on. a man in my VVIP section shouted to the videoman to erase that incident. Incredible.

Air India finally gave up on the 5 men defense and pushed more players forward but could not score.Chirag went on a break away and a forward in offside position scored. Incredible.

As the referee left the field, I checked the badge on his shirt and saw that he was a full FIFA referee. very interesting.

after the game, my driver drove me back to Mumbai in record time. only 2 hours. with the same traffic. Incredible.

as I watched my driver weaving in and out of traffic, I said to myself forget soccer, Formula One should try to recruit these Indian drivers.

I am sure my driver can beat Alonso and Vettel and all these pros. My driver was amazing and she is only 22 years old. Incredible.

my driver at the Mumbai tourist bureau