FIFA world cup football : nostalgia and current context amidst a bunch of ideas
Shekhar Datta
June 19, 2026
At a time when global football fans and buffs remain glued to nightlong TV shows of the ongoing 23rd world soccer cup championship hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico, nostalgia partially tainted by regret reign supreme in the mind-space of Indian football followers. Gone are the days of exhilarating skill and finesse of Brazilian football exhibited by stalwarts such as Garrincha, Pele, Tostao , Garson and generations of magicians but they have been followed by Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo and a host of others. But the soccer fans wistfully recall the days of vintage attacking footaball of Brazilians amidst a painful realization that, despite remarkable progress in many other sporting events, India still languish at the bottom of the table as far as football is concerned.
But a flash-back at the beginning of world cup football is in order in this context : it was the late French aristocrat and longest-tenured president of FIFA (1921-1954), Jules Rimet-the original name is much longer as usual-who had introduced the very first FIFA world cup way back in 1930 in hilly heights of Uruguya in south America with only 13 teams . Most of the powerful European teams had kept away from the maiden world cup in view of the height and humidity of Uruguya and the arduous maritime journey required to reach the country from the shores of Europe and naturally the hosts Uruguya bagged the championship. But once the ball was set rolling , the quadrennial tournament continued to gain in strength and acceptability, being held in 1934 and 1938 in Italy and France with the Italian team winning on both occasions. The second world war (1939-1945) had proved a spoilsport and 4th world cup came off in soccer-crazy Brazil in 1950 but it was a disaster for the hosts as Uruguay got the better of them in the final 2-1 before a 2.5 lakh football-crazy home crowd . Since then the tournament has been held consistently quadrennially and Brazil made up for their frustration by winning the title thrice in 1958,1962 and 1970-thus permanently bagging the Jules Rimet cup or inter alia, the FIFA world cup whose condition was that the team winning it thrice would take it away.
But the organization of the world cup continued to evolve with inclusion of more teams : in 1982 altogether 24 teams in stead of the 16 so far permitted were allowed in participate in the tournament held in Spain . The number rose to 32 in the world cup held in France in 1998 and a whopping 48 this time in the ongoing tournament as the FIFA bosses prioritized more participation not only in the interest of football but also to garner more votes and support in running the world body . In the 22 world cups already held till the year 2022, south American giant, Brazil has won it five times (1958,1962,1970,1994 and 2002) while Italy has bagged the title four times in 1934,1938,1982 and 2006, followed by Germany in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014. Argentina comes next with three victories in 1978,1986 and 2022. France and Uruguya have won the cup twice so far in 1998-2018 and Uruguya in 1930 and 1950 . England and Spain have won the cup only once each in 1966 and 2010 respectively and no team from Asia or Africa has so far been able even to reach the finals. What however still rankles the avid readers among football followers is the failure of star-studded Hungary , known as the ‘Magical Magyars’, to win the cup in 1954 in Switzerland and the exit of brilliant Brazilians from the quarter-final stage of 1982 championship played in Spain following a shock 2-3 defeat against eventual champion Italy , despite being overwhelming favourites to win the cup.
Another piece of interesting information is that on four occasions-1990,1994,2006 and 2022-the world cup finals have been decided by penalty shoot-outs as no none of the finalists could seal the victory in the scheduled 90 minutes and even in 30-minute extra time. Stranger still is that despite playing a vintage brand of attacking football marked by dazzling skills and speed the Netherland could not win a single world title despite playing finals in 1974,1978 and 2010 even though the team featured such immortal footballers as Johan Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Rudi Croll, Marco Vas Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit. Besides winning the title on three occasions the skillful Argentines had also lost out in the final as many times in 1930,1990 and 2014. Many greats have adorned football grounds in the world across Europe, South America and North America with extra-ordinary skill and delectable goal-scoring but football buffs across the world still recall in agony the tragic fate that befell the Brazilian goal-keeper Moacir Barbosa after Brazil’s narrow 1-2 defeat against Uruguya in the final of 1950 world cup on home ground . In that fateful final Brazil needed only a draw but Moacir Barbosa, otherwise a brilliant goal keeper who never used gloves , let in a goal eleven minutes ahead of the scheduled end . The entire team , officials as well as the partisan crowd blamed the goal on Barbosa and for the rest of his life he remained a hounded man , spat upon whenever he was visible on roads. Four years later in 1954 the brilliant Brazilians had stigmatized the world cup when , having lost the semi-final against the fovourite Hungary in the picturesque city of Berne in Switzerland , the Brazilian players and officials physically assaulted the Hungarian players and injured them in the dressing room after switching off the lights. This dark episode in the world cup history has been recorded as the ‘Battle of Berne’ and continues to be looked upon as a massive slur on the spirit of the beautiful game.
The saga of world cup football whose matches , specially the finals, are attended by heads of states to encourage national teams , is endless and mind-blowing. But the reminiscences also raise questions on what we in India are doing to upgrade our football standards-next to nothing , it seems, going by our current FIFA ranking of 139. It was way back in 1951 that India had narrowly edged out Iran by 1-0 to win the gold medal in the inaugural Asian games held in Delhi through a goal scored by Sahu Mewalal . This was followed by a lean period until the Melbourne Olympics of 1956 when India ended on 4th position , having gone down tamely to then soccer giant , undivided Yugoslavia but in the 1960 Rome Olympics India had to exit from the group stage . It was two years later in 1962 that Indian football team, coached superbly by late Mohammed Abdul Rahim, beat powerful South Korea in the finals of the Asian games football 2-1, held in Jakarta amidst controversies and bitter crowd hostility.
There was a consolation prize in 1970 Asian games held in Bangkok (Thailand) when India managed a bronze medal under the coaching of late stalwarts P.K.Banerjee and Golam Mohammed Basa. Since then there has been a long dry spell in tournament after tournament , except stray victories in one or two and we have never been able to qualify in Olympics, let alone World Cup. Long ago in 1950 India had a chance to play in the world cup held in Brazil after being given a late free entry by FIFA as a number of European teams had opted out of the tournament but this did not materialize as the newly independent India did not have the wherewithal to participate far away in South America.
Given this context, what can we do to improve in football , the most popular outdoor game across the globe ? Pinpointing the hurdles in the way of India progressing in football G.M.Basa had once perceptively written in an article published in now-defunct ‘Sports World’ of Calcutta that Indian climate marked by high heat and humidity in most parts of the country and the general standard of physique stand in the way of competing on equal terms with the taller and stronger Europeans , South Americans and even Africans and Arabians. “The humidity in Indian climate is killing and it makes players in an absorbing physical contact game like football easily tired ; worse , the lower sides of bodies of Indian footballers and their muscular strength and flexibility are much weaker and lesser than their counterparts in leading football playing nations; this is a major handicap that can be overcome by balanced and nutritious diet from infancy and nursing of talent from early stage after medical tests to determine who has potential for success in what game” G.M.Basa had written. He suggested that talents should be identified at an early stage in a planned manner and then all steps should be taken to nurture them with governmental and commercial support. Apart from this, football in India should be played in night time in areas beyond hilly stations to preserve the health and endurance of players. “If we are serious about improving our football we should have football academies in different parts of the country, specially in states where the game is popular like in Kerala, Bengal and other parts ; unfortunately , the experiment of TATAs in running a football academy at Jamshedpur has also failed but we can not stop at that ; the national professional league of football should be run properly with commercial support and regions having a rich pool of talent like the northeast should be given priority in setting up football academies but it will take time and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) should come forward in a big way with support from the government , otherwise there is no chance” said N.K.Goswami , a former footballer. (Tripurainfo)
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