9 states, one city produce 90% of India's top-level football players: Report

India's Sunil Chhetri during World Cup qualifiers match against Qatar

In a country with a population of over 140 crores, more than 65 percent of top-level football players in the country come from only 5 states, according to a report by Indian Express.

These states are, unsurprisingly, the traditional powerhouses - Manipur, Mizoram, West Bengal, Punjab and Goa, the report said. A total of 1,112 male players come from these 5 states and, according to the 2011 Census, the total population of these states is 12.43 crore.

The report was based on research conducted by Richard Hood, who is a Union of European Football Association (UEFA) ‘A’ and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Pro Licence coach. He was also previously the head of player development program of the All India Football Federation (AIFF).

Moreover, if players from Greater Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya and Sikkim is added, it will take the contribution of these 9 states and one city to 90 percent of the country’s elite-level players, according to the study, which translates to just 20 percent of the country's population producing nine out of the 10 top players.

The report said that Manipur and Mizoram contributed almost 31 percent of the total top-level players, while West Bengal came in the third position with 13.55 percent of players, Punjab with 11.46 percent, and Goa accounted for 9.71 percent of the players. Interestingly, the report noted that the share of the original powerhouses West Bengal and Goa has fallen sharply over the years.

The report also showed that over 80 percent of the players who have played for the country since 2002 came from only six states and the city of Mumbai.

In contrast, the contribution of other states especially the Hindi heartland is close to being nothing.

India was once called the sleeping giant by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Recently, when the current world football body’s president came to the country, he remarked that a country with over a billion people “must have enough talent”.

However, the country has struggled on the world stage except for a brief period in the early 1950s and 1960s.

India is currently second in the table of the second qualification round of the 2026 World Cup. In the last match, it lost against war-ravaged Afghanistan and will play Kuwait and Qatar next in the last two matches of the round.