While watching the Kerala Premier League final at Thrissur’s Corporation Stadium on a wet Sunday night, you could not help overhear two elderly men talking, with concern, about the possibility of the FIFA World Cup not being televised in India.

They, and the rest of football-mad Kerala, must have heaved a sigh of relief when it was announced that Zee would telecast the matches live in India, after signing a last-minute deal with FIFA. Brazil and Argentina, not surprisingly, have been the perennial favourites among Kerala’s football fans.

European sides like France and Spain have a lot of supporters, too. You cannot quite add Qatar to such an elite list of teams. But this time around, the Malayalis are sure to follow the fortunes of that Gulf country as well. Qatar’s squad includes a player from Kerala — Tahsin Jamshid was born in Doha to Malayali parents hailing from Kannur district.

After the 19-year-old winger was named in the preliminary squad for the World Cup, fans in Kerala were hoping that he would make it to the final team for the tournament to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Little wonder, his inclusion has caused a lot of excitement. Among those who have talked about his rise is author and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor.

Tahsin, whose father is a former footballer, had played for Qatar at the under-17 and 19 levels. He isn’t the only player with an Indian connection at the World Cup, though.

There are, in fact, three others. Sarpreet Singh is perhaps the best-known among them. The 27-year-old will play for New Zealand as an attacking midfielder. Sarpreet, whose family is from Jalandhar, has been playing for the senior team since 2018 and has scored three goals.

Samuel Moutoussamy, a player with Tamil roots, is in the Democratic Republic of Congo squad. While his mother is Congolese, his father is Indo-Guadeloupean of Tamil origin. The 29-year-old defensive midfielder, who was born in Paris, made his debut for Congo in 2019.

Nishan Velupillay is part of the Australia team. The winger’s father is a Malaysian of Tamil heritage, while his mother is an Anglo-Indian. This is the first World Cup that will feature an Indian-origin player since 2006, when Vikash Dhorasoo turned out for France. His ancestors had moved to Mauritius from Andhra Pradesh.