Football fever has officially taken over the National Capital Region (NCR). Despite a few challenges like unusual match timings and streaming-related confusion, the fan base is buzzing with excitement. As the FIFA World Cup kicks off, football enthusiasts are embracing the chaos, trading sleep for screens and preparing for a month of weekend watch parties. Whether it is turning living rooms into mini-stadiums, hitting local turfs for a quick match between games, or settling in for epic all-day viewing marathons, NCR fans are making sure they do not miss a single second of the action.
Early Morning Matches at Football Academy
At the Games Forest Club, students from the Vision Royal Rangers Football Academy are keeping their tournament excitement charged with early morning matches. The young players are eager to emulate their heroes on the field.
Jersey Craze Takes Over
For many football fans, the road to the World Cup begins long before the opening whistle with a new jersey. Madhur Chaudhary, a Messi fan, says, There is nothing like too many jerseys when it is World Cup season. Naturally, the tournament brings a noticeable uptick in business for retailers catering to football enthusiasts. Nimit Soni, a vendor at Palika Bazaar, notes, Messi and Ronaldo jerseys continue to be our bestsellers. We are already seeing increased footfall from football fans, and we expect the craziness to double over the coming week. Spain jerseys are selling well too.
Shivam Negi, coach at Grassroots Academy in Noida, adds, A lot of my students have started buying new jerseys. Many parents are turning to markets like Palika Bazaar for affordable replicas of expensive merchandise. For Noida-based Kunwardeep Singh Budhraja, the World Cup fever arrived early. Ahead of the tournament, his twin sons Reyhan and Meyhan got new jerseys of their favorite players. They have both got new kits. While one backs Messi, the other is firmly in Ronaldo camp, he says.
Himadri Saha, a 30-year-old employee at a SaaS startup, shares, The jerseys this season are phenomenal. I have already bought Uruguay and Brazil kits, and there are a few more on my radar. My room is decked out with Brazil flags and Neymar posters. The match timings will be challenging, especially with my office ending around 7.30pm, but I am already adjusting my sleep schedule. I will probably sleep early and wake up before the morning games, and even tweak my work hours when possible to make sure I do not miss the important games.
Aryan Dwivedi, a 25-year-old office-goer, says, Like every football fan, I eagerly wait for the World Cup. The match timings are a bit concerning this time, but I am used to watching football late at night, so surviving on two or three hours of sleep before office does not worry me much.
Community and Watch Parties
For football fan Chandrabhanu Rituraj, the World Cup means recalibrating both workdays and weekends. The World Cup is a once-in-four-years event, so the hype is always high, says the corporate lawyer. For the big matches, I am planning to head to clubs and cheer with other fans. I guess I am about to unlock a new superpower – surviving corporate life without sleep.
For NCR football communities, the World Cup extends well beyond the 90 minutes on screen. Dynamos Ultras, a Delhi-based football community with over 500 members, plans to keep the conversation alive even for those unable to catch every match live. The group intends to share updates, storylines, and match highlights through its social media channels throughout the competition. Manu Raghav, who leads the community, says, I will call my mates over, have good food and chill while watching the game we all love. We will do a weekend watch marathon of the matches back to back.
Aakash Warman, a Climate and Sustainability Researcher and fan of the Spain team, adds, Some games are going to be worth sacrificing your sleep for. A clash like Norway vs France, which is basically Mbappé vs Haaland, you just cannot miss that. The big games are the ones I will watch with my friends – we will either host a watch party or end up at someone house with caffeine and snacks.
Shared Experiences and Live Screenings
Many football fans are planning to make match-viewing a shared experience. Kevin Samuel, a Noida-based Portugal team supporter, says, We are really looking forward to the World Cup this weekend. For the big games and weekends, we are planning to head to a sports bar together. A group of us from our residential society play football on the turf almost every day, so this feels like a natural extension of that. We will watch the matches together and make an occasion out of it.
At Humans of Football, a community of over 20,000 members, the tournament is expected to bring together footballers. Siddhant Dahiya, co-founder of Humans of Football, says, Around 500 members from our community will be heading to the live screenings at the United8 Sports Fan Park in Delhi. Many people are also planning to play the game themselves on turfs across Delhi before settling in to watch the matches.
Delhi-based fans Anshul Parashar and Rohit Jayal took their love for the game to the streets by shooting a cinematic video with the World Cup official match ball.
With inputs from Abhradip Das and Mannat Saini.
