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New Delhi: When the original Fifa World Cup Trophy arrived in India and was unveiled in the capital on Saturday after a 12-year absence, Sanket Ray saw it as more than a ceremonial stop on a global tour.
“Sport in India is entering a defining phase, marked by wider participation, stronger infrastructure and growing global engagement,” said Ray, president, Coca-Cola India and South-West Asia.
For Coca-Cola, which has partnered with Fifa since 1978, the trophy’s return is significant. The soft drinks giant announced a new three-year sponsorship of the Indian Women’s National Football Team, a move unveiled on Saturday by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
The partnership comes on the back of a breakthrough 2025 season for Indian women’s football. The senior national team qualified for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 in Australia for the first time in over two decades. India topped their qualification group with four wins, scoring 27 goals and conceding just one, including a notable victory over higher-ranked Thailand.
Ahead of the Fifa World Cup 2026, the original trophy is travelling to 30 Fifa member associations, covering 75 stops over more than 150 days.
India’s three-day leg includes two days in New Delhi before the trophy moves to Guwahati in Assam.
The trophy itself carries the weight of football history. Crafted from 18-carat gold and weighing 6.175kg, the design, introduced in 1974, shows two human figures lifting the globe. Access to the original trophy is tightly controlled, reserved largely for World Cup winners and a small circle of officials and select heads of state.
Deep roots, less success
For India, the trophy’s return inevitably revives memories of the country’s complicated relationship with the world’s biggest football tournament, often described as passionate but unfinished. India qualified for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil but withdrew, largely due to the cost and logistics of travel, a decision later mythologized as a ban for playing barefoot, even though Fifa did not outlaw barefoot play until 1953, said Boria Majumdar, sports historian and author.
India has not qualified for a World Cup since then.
Yet football’s roots in India run deeper than international qualifications. In the years following Independence, the national team won gold medals at the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games and reached the semifinals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
At the club level, Mohun Bagan’s 1911 IFA Shield victory over the East Yorkshire Regiment, achieved by an all-Indian team against British opponents, remains a defining moment, often cited as an early assertion of Indian sporting confidence under colonial rule.
Those highs now feel distant.
India’s men’s team is ranked 142nd among 210 nations, reflecting a prolonged period of stagnation despite enduring interest in the game, particularly in pockets such as Kolkata, Goa, Kerala, and the North-East.
That gap between memory and ambition is now being addressed at the policy level. “We want to build the sport from the grassroots—push for practice matches wherever there is space and get more boys and girls to play. Corporate sponsorship is vital,” said Kiren Rijiju, Union minister for parliamentary affairs, speaking at the unveiling event late on Saturday evening.
Many goals
The passion for football continues to surface in symbolic moments like the Trophy Tour. Former Brazil international and Fifa legend Gilberto D’Silva said the visit could inspire young Indians to look beyond cricket. “This trophy is to inspire so many young kids—the next generation of players, women and boys—to become successful here in football, as they have done in other sports, especially cricket,” he said.
Other policymakers echoed the sentiment, positioning sport as central to India’s broader development goals.
“Sports is a powerful instrument for nurturing discipline, confidence and character, particularly among our youth,” Mandaviya added. “The Fifa World Cup Trophy Tour resonates strongly with our aspiration to position India among the world’s top five sporting nations by 2047,” said Union minister for youth affairs and sports Mansukh Mandaviya, said.
Sport, he said, would remain a vital pillar of nation-building and youth empowerment.
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