Year-ender 2025: What happened to the 'Blue Tigers'? Sleeping giants need to wake up; a reality check on Indian football

Systemic malaise continues to destroy Indian football as a lack of a roadmap or national policy for development contributes to the game's decline.

As 2025 winds up, it is that time of the year to do an introspection of what went wrong in Indian Football, a country which has been called a 'sleeping giant'.

The national team's performance reached the nadir in November when following a 1-2 loss to Singapore at home, they failed to advance to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup 2027 scheduled to be held in 2027. Adding insult to injury, a month later, they lost 0-1 to Bangladesh as they took the wooden spoon in a group featuring minnows Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bangladesh.

The team won just three of the 11 games played in the calendar — that too under multiple coaches — and no wonder it lost 40 places in FIFA rankings in two years.

The 'Blue Tigers' continued their freefall in FIFA rankings, with them currently perched at 142, which is their lowest in almost a decade. India's best-ever FIFA ranking was 94 which they achieved in 1996 and it will take them a while to be in the top 100.

With the tournament for continental legacy happening every four years, the Indian national team players will be deprived of game time for at least six years and that is a poor reflection of the game in the country.

A country which produced players of the caliber of I M Vijayan, Bruno Coutinho and Bhaichung Bhutia is struggling to find a decent striker upfront, as Sunil Chhetri was forced to come out of retirement and with him having called it quits again, an Australian player was naturalised to fill in his big shoes.

The administration of the game is also in total mess as evidenced by the fact that uncertainty hovers over the top flight football league in the country — Indian Super League — while the traditional I League continues to thrive in mediocrity, highlighted by poor visibility and low turnout for matches.

Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, when contesting for FIFA president's job in 2016 made a scathing remark about the way the game's global governing body functions.

"It is a bunker, three floors underground, and for me that is not the vision that one should have for that organisation," Prince Ali said about the FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

Miles across — at the Football House in Dwarka Sector 19 in New Delhi, the headquarters of the All India Football Federation, things are not so different as 'tunnel vision' plagues it as well.

A leading office-bearer was removed from the post, his successor is still not allowed to attend meetings on technical ground as politicians continue their hold in key decision making, leaving players and the Beautiful Game at their mercy.

Systemic malaise continues to destroy Indian football as age fuddling continues to be regular affair at grassroot-level tournaments, lack of proper training facilities — stinking toilets are a common feature at any grounds, lack of proper talent scouting schemes and a lack of a roadmap or national policy for football development all contribute to the game's decline.

Lothar Matthaus, who led Germany to World Cup in 1990, made a candid statement while saying that India need their coaches to be trained by legends from abroad.

On the coaching front, India finally though looked to get their act together when local man Khalid Jamil was preferred for the seat after a merry-go-round with foreign jaffers.

Under Jamil, India started well with a creditable third-place finish in their maiden appearance in the CAFA Cup. The Women's team making the cut for AFC Asian Cup was also was also the silver lining in an otherwise drab year for Indian football.

As the New Year dawns, all is not lost for Indian football. After all, it's the people's game.

Now, how do you define football?

Well-travelled writer, Sandeep Menon, in his new book Sacred Grounds: A Journey Through People's Football in India sums it up aptly.

"Football is art. It's musical filled with the rhythm of the people on the field and in the stands. It's a Shakespearean tragedy, a drama of penance and redemption, filled with tales of Davids and Goliaths, prodigal sons and demigods. It's the most important of the least important things in the world."

Take the case of great footballing nations who have thrived on one style or the other — Jogo Bonito, the beautiful game, epitomises Brazilians, Dutch embraced Total Football which revolutionised the game in the early 70s with the fast-phased game while Spain embraced the short passing through Tikki Takka in the early 2000s.

For long, Indian football has been living just on past glory, something which was achieved five decades back. It's time to leave that behind and unearth the new Davids and Goliaths.

2025 was a year of reality check for Indian football. Let's hope 2026 ushers in the dawn of a new era in Indian football. It's time for the sleeping giant to wake up before it is too late.