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#7 India
Confederation - AFC
Current FIFA ranking - 103
Like the other four most populous nations in the world - China, Indonesia and USA, India was initially lukewarm towards football as a national sport, having interests in other spectator sports like Cricket, Hockey, Badminton and the more unique Kabbadi.
Things are beginning to change though and records show that there is a growing national interest in the game of football.
Football is now the third most popular sport to watch in India and it is widely considered as modern and aspirational to follow football in major cities like Mumbai and Bangalore, while there are some parts of India where football followership outranks the more nationally appealing Cricket.
The Indian Super League is regularly seeing improvements in attendance figures while European Leagues like the English Premier League has India ranking among the highest in terms of global TV audiences.
The country was awarded the right to host the Under 17 Word Cup in 2017 and despite being the first major football tournament to be hosted by the country, it was a resounding success.
The total attendance figures of 1,347,133, which is a tournament record (at an average of 25,000 for each match) is indicative of how much the sport is now accepted in India and the country is also set to host the 2020 Under 17 Women's World Cup.
All of these gains have impacted positively on the Indian national football team, evidenced by their meteoric rise in football in recent years.
Just three years ago, India were ranked 173rd in the world. In the latest FIFA rankings they have climbed to 103rd which is a giant leap of 70 spots in three years.
They also made it to the 2019 Asian Cup which was their first qualification for the quadrennial continental showpiece in almost 15 years, while the iconic Suni Chhetri is seen as a national symbol.
Though they might be some way off achieving global football prominence in the way they are renowned for Cricket, India has been taken little steps in recent years and their efforts could reap dividends in the nearest future.
