When India qualified but withdraw from FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup 2018 is around and India like any other country has a huge football fan base who go crazy for the upcoming tournament that starts from tomorrow in Russia.
Despite the fact that India won't be a part of this tournament but still Indian fans are already losing their calm and taking to social media and supporting their favourite team.
Football has always remained under the shadow because of the much-hyped cricket, it was only after FIFA under 19 World Cup was organised in India that the football fan base increased.
What most of the people are questioning is, when will India qualify in the FIFA world cup. For all those who aren't aware, India once qualified in the tournament in 1950 but unfortunately withdraw a day before the game. The match was scheduled in Brazil. India was then in the pool III along with Italy, Paraguay and Sweden.
Three teams that made it to the World Cup apart from Brazil and Italy were the Philippines, Indonesia and Burma. However, all the three teams withdrew from the tournament and then India was given a chance to participate in the tournament.
Brazil even promised to take care of the expenses like flight tickets, stay and other things but India denied at the end moment.
Till date, there isn't any valid reason known for the withdrawal but AIFF says that the team could not practice much. Another reason given by the federation was that they prefer Olympics to World Cup.
Historian also believes that the rule to not allow players to play barefoot can be another major reason.
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First published: 13 June 2018, 15:16 IST