Football in India

Football in India
Football in India
	Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, West Bengal
Country	India
Governing body	All India Football Federation (AIFF) ; (formed in 1937, joined FIFA in 1948)
National team(s)	Men's national football team; Women's national football team
Nickname(s)	The Blue Tigers
First played	1800s
National competitions
	Senior Men's National Football Championship ; Senior Women's National Football Championship ; U20 National Football Championship ; Junior Boy's National Football Championship ; Sub-Junior Boy's National Football championship ; Subroto Cup ; Junior Girl's National Football Championship ; Sub–Junior Girl's National Football Championship ; National Beach Soccer Championship ; National Games of India ; Khelo India University Games ; Khelo India Youth Games
Club competitions
	List Leagues: Indian Super League; I-League; I-League 2; I-League 3; State leagues (men's, women's); Institutional League; Elite League; Indian Women's League; IWL 2nd Division; AIFF Futsal Club Championship; ; Cups: Federation Cup; Super Cup; Durand Cup; ; ;
International competitions
	List Clubs AFC Champions League 2; AFC Women's Club Championship; AFC Futsal Club Championship; AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup; ; ; National team FIFA World Cup: Qualified (1950) Did not participate; Summer Olympics: Semi-finals (1956); AFC Asian Cup: Runners-up (1964); SAFF Championship: Champions (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2021, 2023); AFC Challenge Cup: Champions (2008); Nehru Cup; Intercontinental Cup (India); Asian Games: Champions (1951, 1962); ; ; National U-17 team FIFA U-17 World Cup: Group stage (2017); AFC U-16 Championship: Quarter-finals (2002, 2018); ; ; Women's national team AFC Women's Asian Cup: Runners-up (1979, 1983); ; ; Women's U-17 national team FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup: Qualified (2021, 2022); ; ; National futsal team 2022 AFC Futsal Asian Cup, 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup (Did not enter); ; ; National minifootball team WMF World Cup: Group stage (2015, 2017, 2019); Asian Minifootball Championship (TBA); ; ; National six-a-side team Socca World Cup: Group stage (2018, 2019); ; ; National seven-a-side team IFA7 Mundial: Group stage (2017); ; ; National beach soccer team AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup: Group stage (2007); Asian Beach Games: Group stage (2008); ; ;
Audience records
Single match	131,781 ; (1997 Federation Cup Semifinal: East Bengal F.C. VS Mohun Bagan A.C. at Salt Lake Stadium, 1997)

Association football is one of the three most-popular sports in India, the others being cricket and kabaddi. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recognises the Indian Super League as the national football league of India. The Santosh Trophy is a knock-out competition among Indian states and government institutions.

India hosted the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, the first FIFA event the country hosted; it was called the most successful FIFA U-17 World Cup ever, with a record-breaking attendance of 1,347,133, exceeding China's previous record of 1,230,976 in 1985. India also hosted the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and bid to host the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup but lost to Poland.

The Indian national football team qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup but did not participate.

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