Will India be the biggest football market ?

India, which was once a sleeping football giant, has woken up with a bang.Thanks to the 2017 Fifa U-17 World Cup which broke previous attendance records with over 1.3 million spectators and  the Indian Super League (ISL), which, with 155 million followers in the country, is the fifth biggest football league in the world in terms of average spectator attendance. It is behind only the Bundesliga (Germany), the Premier League (PL, the United Kingdom), La Liga (Spain) and Serie A (Italy), and ahead of the Major League Soccer (MLS, the United States of America), Ligue 1 (France) and Liga MX (Mexico).Spanish La Liga's head of operations in India Jose Cachaza is extremely confident that subcontinent giants India will be the biggest market for branding in the sport of football in the near future.

• What's the story ?

A recent study by Indian research organisation ​Velocity MR after the FIFA World Cup in Russia revealed fans are growing more interest in India's national football team as 84% of respondents claimed that they will support the Indian team in their upcoming matches.

This ever-growing popularity in India has attracted the interest of global football leagues and clubs. La Liga have made India their base since 2016 and have opened La Liga Football Schools, an initiative with which they claim to have reached 10,000 kids through the 35 football schools in 14 cities across eight states.Market research firm GFK recently conducted a study for La Liga in China, India and Indonesia, and found that football is the second favourite sport in India after cricket. Part of this could be attributed to the rising internet and mobile penetration in India. India’s internet users are expected to register double digit growth to reach 627 million in 2019, driven by rapid expansion in rural areas, says market research agency Kantar IMRB. India is also the largest market for Facebook in the world—with 250 million users—and with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) partnering with Facebook to telecast the La Liga on television in India, it will further the league’s growth plans in India.

• What's Next ?

With Growing popularity of the Sports and economic viability Indian football market is growing rapidly and being optimistic we can now dream of watching India play in the FIFA World Cup soon.Let us know if you think India can make it to the FIFA World Cup .