By now, you already know which teams will play the 2026 FIFA World Cup final on Sunday, 19 July.
The build-up to the matches in the international press has been, to say the least, frenzied. US President Donald Trump was almost knocked off the media headlines until he played referee and persuaded FIFA to overturn its one-match ban on US striker Folarin Balogun.
That brought Trump back into the limelight pronto.
The coverage of the ‘beautiful game’ in Indian English newspapers has been equally extravagant and excessive. Over the past month, it has consumed more newsprint than arguably anything else. Reams and reams have been written on players, teams and games. Sports reporters have gone wild – much like the fans in the stadiums or those on the streets partying across the world.
Riots broke out in Paris after France lost to Spain in the semi-final. And at least one passionate fan in Brazil smashed his TV set after the loss to Norway in the quarter-finals.
Seriously, they’ve all gone mad about football.
It’s sad that in the process, Indian sports successes during this period have been sidelined.
The Indian women’s cricket team notched up a unique victory by defeating England in the first women’s Test match ever played at Lord’s in London. This ground is considered the home of cricket and for India to have not just beaten but thrashed the English team was big news.
India also brought home 16 medals at the inaugural Under-23 Asian Athletics Championship, held from 9 to 12 July in China. It stood fourth behind star teams like China, Japan and Uzbekistan. There were some wonderful performances in mixed 4x400m relay, the women’s 4x400m relay and the men’s javelin throw.
Both women’s cricket and the Asian Athletics Championship deserved more coverage that they received, but they collided with the FIFA World Cup.
FIFA World Cup all the way
Don’t get me wrong, they were covered. However, they got lost behind the gigantic cut-out photos of Messi, Mbappe and Haaland and multiple stories about them. The Argentinian, French and Finnish football superstars were on the sports pages almost every day– and sometimes on page 1 when they scored extraordinary goals. Messi was probably written about daily— Messi jaisa koi nahin.
Full pages have been devoted to the quarter-final and semi-final matches in newspapers like The Indian Express (15 July) and Hindustan Times.
We’ve had lead opinion articles in newspapers like The Times of India: ‘The Hand That Plays Football’ by Javier Dale on 15 July.
And even editorials. Business Standard wrote an editorial on European teams’ diversity not reflected in countries’ demographics in ‘Off field divide’.
The lifestyle supplements of The Times of India and Hindustan Times — Delhi Times and HT City — have been fascinated by Erland Haaland’s personal life, his height (6 ft. 5 inches), his weight (95 kg), his diet (apparently, 6,000 calories daily), his Viking knot hairstyle….
All this and much more appeared in newspapers even though match reports were arriving 24 hours late — most of the matches were played in the middle of the night when Indian newspapers are printed. So, we were asked to read long reports, play analysis and star player profiles more than one day after the results.
Also read: Yastika Bhatia & Kranti Gaud make history—first women on Lord’s honours board
Not the same enthusiasm for Lord’s win
At Lord’s in London, the Indian women’s cricket team comprehensively completed a ‘win for the ages’ against England, wrote The Hindu on Tuesday 14 July. An epic victory couldn’t make it to the front page, though—not even a mention of it.
The newspaper atoned for this snub with a full page of stories on its sports page.
The Telegraph (Kolkata) had a page 1 football anchor story, but nothing about the Lord’s ‘landmark victory’. There was one story on the sports page midway down.
You could argue that the Test match was pretty much won by India on Monday 13 July but even then, there was one report on the sports page, ‘India close in on win’.
The same story for The Indian Express — no page 1 report or mention of the win, no photograph on Tuesday — two stories on its sports page.
Compare this with the coverage of the first ODI between India and England in men’s cricket. Although it was only one of a three-match series, The Indian Express gave it two stories spread across the sports page.
At least The Times of India and Hindustan Times took the women’s victory seriously enough to give it page 1 coverage — both stories were at the bottom of the page.
We have seen how television news goes ga-ga over men’s international cricket and IPL. It holds lengthy discussions with retired players before and after the matches. The Lord’s victory was covered by TV news channels on Monday, but there wasn’t the same ‘josh’.
One channel that made some effort was Republic TV in its Sports Fit section. It was also present at Delhi airport to welcome the returning U-23 athletes.
Nobody is saying 16 medals is an Olympic feat, but it was the first time the event was held and the young athletes deserved some media encouragement. Their accomplishments were noted but squeezed into corners and single columns — everything paled before the FIFA World Cup.
Here’s a thought: Maybe newspapers can bring out FIFA World Cup special supplements so that fans can read about the finals to their heart’s content – and others can devote themselves to reading a normal newspaper.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)