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India is a nation more known for its enthusiastic fan base in cricket, than in any other sport. This nation has given birth to some of the greatest cricketers of all time, which is followed by an extremely passionate fan base.
This has led to the neglect of other sports in the country for quite some time. There was a time when sports like football were followed with dedication in only a few states like West Bengal, Kerala and Goa. However, the times are changing now.
The sport with the highest fan following in the world, football, seems to be getting popular in other states of India as well.
Over the last few years, a number of supporters' clubs have been mushrooming across the country. European football clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid and most notably FC Barcelona and Real Madrid have been followed quite intensely by Indian supporters over the last decade.
Looking at the current scenario, Mumbai is just not a City of Cricket anymore. Going down the streets of Mumbai, one can now observe that the number of kids playing football is quite high, considering the fact that the city is only known for its cricket crazy fan base.
At the moment, the fan following for football in Mumbai is so high that just open grounds are not enough to accommodate the fans coming in.
As a result, a number of football turfs have been mushrooming across the city to accommodate the increasing amount of vibrant supporters.
The craze for football in Mumbai was pretty evident when people turned out in huge numbers to support the national football team after Sunil Chhetri's plea video on Instagram.
The support for the national team was unreal and credit must be given to the Blue Pilgrims, the official supporters club for the national team, who took huge efforts to organize screenings for the Hero Intercontinental Cup finals in different parts of the country and supported the Indian team through thick and thin.
As far as European football goes, the oldest supporters' club in Mumbai is MUFCM- The Red Army, which is the official supporters' club for Manchester United in the city. It was established in 2006 and has received official recognition from Manchester United.
They have organized a number of screenings for Manchester United fans across the city so far and they are one of the biggest supporters' clubs in India.
The supporters' club was established by four to five people with a motive to organize events for the frenzy supporters of the club, who could not travel to Old Trafford that often to watch their matches live.
The above graphic is an image clicked at The Stables, Marol during the recently concluded El Clasico screening organised by FCB Mumbai.
A small glance at their Instagram handle is enough to give any person an idea about the passion and love these members have for the Catalan club.
This supporters' club also organises a number of footy sessions for its members, which also includes football matches against other supporters' clubs like Peña Madridista De Bombay ( Real Madrid Supporters' Club) and Manchester City Mumbai.
Apart MUFCM-The Red Army, another supporters' club which has received official recognition is the Arsenal Mumbai Supporters' Club.
Just like MUFCM, they were founded way back in May 2006 when a group of young Gooners in Mumbai, started the Arsenal Mumbai Fan Club page on a widely used social networking website of that time - Orkut.
The page started attracting other Gooners based in Mumbai and in a couple of weeks, more than 100 members joined the group.
Like FCB Mumbai, they have also organised a number of footy sessions throughout the city and over 125 screenings for all the Gooners across the city.
Apart from these supporters' clubs , there are various other groups of European clubs supporters like Juventus Mumbai, Chelsea India Supporters' Club and Liverpool FC Mumbai as well.
Looking at the number of fan clubs, it is safe to say that the love for European football is set to grow more in the coming years.
However, supporters' clubs are not just limited to European clubs in this city. The amount of support for the local team in Mumbai, which is Mumbai City FC, is absolutely insane.
West Coast Brigade is the official supporters' club for Mumbai City FC, and it is known for its support to the team, both home and away.
Renowned for traveling in large numbers to support the team across the length and breadth of the country, the West Coast Brigade is held in high regard by the MCFC management and the players as they have dedicated a stand for West Coast Brigade members in the Mumbai Football Arena.
In 2017, Mumbai City FC became the first club in the history of ISL to announce a special section for away fans.
Talking about World Cups, the craze for this prestigious tournament began way back in 2010.
Screenings were organized for the football-loving population at various bars, restaurants and lounges and there has been a significant increase in the number of fans since then, with the recently concluded 2018 World Cup attracting the highest audience amongst Mumbaikar football fans.
Despite the increasing number of football fan clubs in Mumbai, the intensity of the fan following for football is yet pretty less compared to that of cricket. However, that could change in the coming years.
Football is one of the biggest sports around the globe, and an increase in its fan following in one of the biggest cities of this nation could shape the future of this sport in this country positively.
