“Even before the Indian men’s football team makes it to the FIFA World Cup, the women’s team is likely to qualify, considering the stage the team is currently at and the new pool of talent that is emerging. Much of this success can be attributed to the academy culture that has witnessed a monumental rise over the last decade,” said Saravana Dharaman, Deputy Secretary, Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA).

Several academy owners pointed out that football culture in Bengaluru was driven by different factors in different time periods. While earlier it was the sporting culture of the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) from the 1970s to the early 2000s, it has been the emergence of academies in the later phase.

Bappaditya Bhattacharjee, founder and director of the Roots Football Club, explained that when the PSUs dominated the Bengaluru football scene, there were role models in the form of marquee players whom young people looked up to, which helped sustain interest in the sport across the city.

“Once the PSUs stopped recruitment and their teams were gradually dissolved, there were suddenly not many idols for young people to look up to, which could have led to a decline in interest in the sport. However, a combination of television, the IT boom, schools promoting football, and other factors kept the pulse of the game alive,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said. Although the PSUs dissolved their teams, former players kept the coaching scene alive.

However, it was the growing demand for structured training that gave a major push to the rise of academies.

As Mr. Bhattacharjee put it, international schools and leading educational institutions that emerged alongside Bengaluru’s IT boom actively promoted football. Television, on the other hand, brought foreign leagues such as the English Premier League closer to children. Together, these factors kept conversations around the sport alive, contributing to its overall development.

This also meant a shift in the class of those who played the game, since joining an academy brought up the question of affordability. Mr. Bhattacharjee stressed that earlier, football was viewed as a poor person’s sport, but after the year 2000, the trend changed as the popularity of the game grew. “Even in educational institutions, football players are seen as the ‘cool kids’. This aspect also helped improve the popularity of the sport,” he said.

Rise of academies

Krithya, a manager at an academy in the city, pointed out that when schools started forming their football teams and participating in inter-school tournaments, youngsters who missed out on making the team, as well as those who simply wanted to learn the sport, began enrolling in academies, creating significant demand.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said that when he started his academy in 2009, there were barely two other such institutions in the city. Today, Bengaluru has nearly 70 academies, underscoring both the demand for structured training and the strength of its football culture.

On the other hand, the KSFA’s Youth Premier League provided a renewed push for development by introducing a stronger competitive element. This attracted more young players, which in turn created greater demand for quality academies.

Mr. Dharaman said that Karnataka teams are currently represented in all the major leagues, which in itself underscores the thriving football culture in the State, particularly in Bengaluru.

Academy founders said that the city had a grassroots player pool of over 2,000 youngsters with quality skills. Mr. Bhattacharjee observed that while India remains a few years behind in the global football landscape, the emerging pool of players had the potential to bridge the gap.

Women’s football

Mr. Dharaman said that there are nearly 30 B-Division women’s teams, 10 A-Division women’s teams, and 10 Super Division women’s teams, underscoring the rise and growth of women’s football in the city.

Schools fielding women’s teams, along with parents breaking stereotypes and encouraging girls to take up the sport, have been major factors behind this growth, he observed, with the launch of the Karnataka Women’s League giving it an additional thrust.

(The series concludes.)