Star Sports India Football Forum

The 2018 FIFA World Cup shredded the myth that the game is popular only in certain pockets. As per host broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), the 64 live matches of World Cup Russia were watched by 110.5 million on television, while 70 million tuned in from across India on SonyLiv , its digital over-the-top (OTT) player.

Do we see an adolescent somewhere in India’s small towns dreaming of becoming the next Cristiano Ronaldo or the next Lionel Messi, inspired by the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Or closer home, there may be so many youngsters all over the country, in small towns and big, who idolize the likes of Sunil Chhetri, Sandesh Jhingan or Jeje Lalpekhlua, India’s superstars who ply their trade in the Hero Indian Super League?

It is here that grassroots programmes have to start working. Producing great players is the key to booking a place in the top 50 in FIFA ranking. There can be of course no discussion around broad-basing sport in this market without a singular focus on how India’s much-touted youth demographic dividend is to be leveraged to serve that end. Building on all these touch points, THE ELEPHANT IS STARTING TO RUN, was the core proposition that was principally up for discussion and analysis during the India Football Forum 2018.

This STAR FOOTBALL INDIA FOOTBALL FORUM by International Institute of Sports Management cover topics like:

Admin and Grassroots
Indian Football and Investments
Social Media
Overseas Perspective
Broadcasting and TV Numbers
Indian Football Branding

Credits:
Mr. Amitava Pal, Associate Dean, Chair Research Committee, Editorial Board Member at SARJ (Sports Academia Research Journal)

Core Team:
Mr. Mustafa Sapatwala, Head Academics
Mr. Devendra Prabhudesai, Head Corporate Relation

Design Team:
Mr. Pramod Sawant
Mr. Sandeep Dalvi

Students Team:
Shaurya Karpatne
Shrey Somani
Suvankar Samanta
D.Venkata
Nihar Khopkar
Jairath Chugh
Chinmay Prasanna
Saifuddin Dhoondia
Yashashree Chaudhari