India is a football giant in waiting, a country that is on their verge of something big. To fully understand this, you need to have a grasp of the country’s football past, present, and future.
Reading India’s Football Dream by Shantanu Gupta and Nikhil Paramjit Sharma will give you that background and more. The book starts with a brilliant foreword from Indian superstar Sunil Chhetri that truly sets the stage for the rest of the book.
It is followed by a brief history of global football and football in India. Then the content becomes much more dynamic as it moves to regional growth, well-known football clubs, leagues, and tournaments. There’s a great discussion of the Indian Super League and the Indian National Team. The book finishes strong with sections on the federation and initiatives to boost the game.
Perhaps the brightest spot of the entire book is the discussion surrounding the FIFA U-17 World Cup, an event that brought Indian football to the global stage. It was also an event where India impressed on and off the pitch.
We’ve always been fascinated with the Indian game and this text satisfied our curiosity and gave us all the knowledge we needed in just one place. It was a great read, full of history and engaging content. An added bonus is that covers nearly 200 hundred years in just 216 pages, which is quite amazing in its own regard.
Overall this should be regarded as the definitive text for Indian football and an absolutely amazing choice for any football fan. The story is a magical journey that is captured by a pair of dynamic authors.
