Shillong: As the 2026 FIFA World Cup gears up for the last-four battle, the CM’s Football Fan Park in Shillong has brought the tournament closer to the people of the northeastern state. With free live screenings, the venue near the JN Stadium has turned into a mini stadium for football enthusiasts, continuing Shillong’s long-established tradition of watching and celebrating the World Cup together.
Come World Cup season, Shillong’s localities begin wearing their footballing hearts on their sleeves, with fans putting up flags of their favourite teams on their cars and outside their houses. While there is a fan base for almost all major teams, including Brazil and Portugal, many Shillong fans in this World Cup have expressed overwhelming support for the football icon Lionel Messi and Argentina.
Argentina will be facing England in the second semi-final early Thursday.
“You never know with Argentina…but I think they have a good chance against England in the semi-finals,” said Raymond, one of the viewers present at the Argentina vs Switzerland match. “The only team I am worried about is France, since they are playing really well.”
The scenes at the CM’s Football Fan Park reflect the sport’s unique place in Meghalaya’s social fabric, where the sport has long served as a shared language across generations and neighbourhoods. By reviving collective viewing at a time when streaming has pushed fans indoors, the state government is also using the 2026 FIFA World Cup to reinforce a larger ambition: to position Meghalaya as India’s football capital through investments in infrastructure, grassroots development and community engagement.
Messi! Messi!
When Argentina faced Egypt and Switzerland in the Round of 16 and quarter-final, the crowd’s emotions mirrored the unpredictable trajectory of the defending champion’s shifting fortunes, as fans sighed and cheered on their favourite team’s campaign for World Cup glory.
The first fixture attracted more than a thousand fans to the CMs Football Fan Park, with many of them turning up wearing Messi jerseys and waving Argentinian flags.
A group of four college students at the venue told ThePrint that they had come to the fan park because they did not have private streaming subscriptions. Despite Egypt securing an early 1-0 lead after Yasser Ibrahim’s sublime header, one Argentinian fan, Simsak Sangma, predicted that “Argentina will win by one goal.”
At halftime, a family of three, all in Argentinian jerseys, seemed distressed over the match.
Sujit Baruah, the eldest man in the family, said, “I wanted to lift my daughter’s spirits, since she had been feeling low after Portugal’s defeat to Spain had resulted in her hero Ronaldo’s exit.”
As the second half started, the crowd waited with bated breath for an Argentinian comeback. When Mostafa Ziko scored Egypt’s second goal in the 67th minute, most of the Argentinian fans went silent, with some even leaving the venue.
Despite the setback, Petrick Rymbai, a young school employee, said that the results don’t matter to him.
“Win or lose, I will always support Argentina,” he said. With an Argentinian flag draped over his back, he said that he had been a fan of Messi since childhood.
The fans’ loyalty finally paid off in the 79th minute when Cristian Romero scored Argentina’s first goal. Moments later, when Messi scored the equaliser, the crowd at the venue leapt up in unison — jumping and hugging one another — in sheer exhilaration.
Immediately afterwards, the air was filled with roaring chants of ‘Messi! Messi! Messi!’ A few minutes later, Enzo Fernandes sealed the win for Argentina. The crowd erupted into a joyous flurry of blue-and-white Argentinian flags. A group of three consultants from Delhi in the venue watched the ecstatic crowd with amazement.
“Football is picking up in Delhi, but it is nothing like this”, one of them said.
As the game drew to a close, the crowd at the fan park broke into spontaneous chants of ‘Ole! Ole! Ole!’, the near-universal refrain for victory in football.
An elderly woman who had come to the venue with her children said, “It is so lovely they are doing this… it is such a good way to bring people together”.
As the final whistle blew, a young man in a Messi jersey ran out of the venue with a miniature replica of the World Cup, followed by his joyous friends.
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Argentina vs Switzerland
Compared to the late-night screenings, the 6:30 am quarter-final match between Argentina and Switzerland attracted more senior citizens and families.
Mac Allister’s early opening goal kept the spectators in good spirits in the first half. After the Swiss equalised in the second half, however, the crowd turned quiet and pensive, even as the Argentinians struggled to break through a ‘stubborn Swiss defence’.
Despite the lull, the fans cheered on every Argentinian pass and interception. When Alvarez finally broke through with a brilliant top-corner curler goal in the extra time, the entire crowd erupted with absolute joy. Martinez then scored another goal to secure Argentina a 3-1 victory over Switzerland and a place in the semi-finals.
Raymond, a passionate Messi fan, said that he loves Argentina because of their “natural and flamboyant playing style and their ability to create plays out of nowhere”. In terms of individual players, he singled out Messi’s sheer magic and Alvarez’s striking abilities.
“Even though I am supporting Argentina, Cabo Verde really won me over. For a country with a population much smaller than Shillong, they really managed to make their mark,” Raymond said.
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A Shillong tradition
Emerald and Meda had set up a stall in the venue selling football flags and jerseys.
“Most of the people come looking for Messi or Ronaldo jerseys,” Meda said.
The couple agreed that the fan park was a great initiative to bring back the spirit of watching football games together, something which they said was common in Shillong earlier, but has since declined with the ‘rise of nuclear families’ in the city.
Since its inauguration, the CMs Football Fan Park has been regularly attracting crowds of over a thousand people, creating a lively atmosphere of collective viewership and celebration among football fans in the city. The park had its moment in the global spotlight after FIFA’s official handle re-shared a video of fans at the venue celebrating Argentina’s victory over Egypt.
The screenings are being organised by the Meghalaya Tourism department with operational support from Opus production, a private firm.
“The fan park is the Chief Minister’s idea. He wanted people to have a place where they could come and watch the games together,” Elton Phankon, Project Director of Opus Production, told ThePrint.
While such football screenings were occasionally organised by the Dorbar Shnongs (or Local Village Committees), large-scale screenings have become more common in recent years. The 2018 World Cup Final was live screened in the adjacent JN stadium, where thousands of fans watched France beat Croatia 4-2.
While Shillong’s growth in recent decades has led to wealth creation, there is also a sense of increasing inequality and the loss of community ties. Although football alone cannot address these challenges, community-centric initiatives at least reveal a more inclusive vision for the city.
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Beyond the spectacle
The CM’s Football Fan Park is part of the state government’s larger vision to transform Meghalaya into a major football destination. The government is building a 40,000-seater football stadium in Mawkhanu in New Shillong, slated to become one of the largest football stadiums in the country.
While local stakeholders praise the state government’s initiatives, they also highlight areas for improvement.
“Along with the infrastructure, the government should also create world-class training academies and a professional local league that can nurture a new generation of local footballing heroes,” Arki Nongrum, former CEO of the Meghalaya Football Association, told ThePrint.
During his stint at the state football association, Nongrum had prioritised grassroots football development by organising the ‘Baby Leagues’ as a league format football competition for kids between four and 13 years, in association with the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Tata Trusts.
He pointed out how Sanfida Nongrum, the first woman from Meghalaya in the Indian national team, and Bonifilia Shullai, of the Indian U-16 team, had both previously played in the children’s leagues.
Bhogtoram Mawroh, scholar and football commentator, agreed that the current government was supporting local clubs and training academies. He pointed out that Meghalaya football is currently undergoing a transformation since “more local players are now playing for premier clubs across the country”. He hoped that “these players will eventually return to improve the quality of the local leagues.”
Mawroh told ThePrint that Shillong’s premier football clubs, which include Shillong Lajong, Langsning, Rangdajied, and Royal Wahingdoh, have successfully competed in the I-League and the Indian Football League. He further pointed out how clubs like Shillong Lajong have developed their own training academies, which now provide a steady supply of players to premier leagues across the country. Well-known footballers like Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Aiborlang Khongjee from the Indian national team have also played for Shillong Lajong.
In 2014, the NorthEast United Football Club (NEUFC), which represents the eight states of the Northeast, became the first team from the region to compete in the country’s top-tier Indian Super League (ISL). Despite NEUFC’s mixed success in the ISL, the team won the Durand Cup twice, in 2024 and 2025.
However, despite steady progress, there are challenges. A former professional footballer from Shillong said that the government also needs to provide greater financial support and professional expertise to the smaller clubs in the state.
“In the absence of proper support, many of the promising players in these smaller clubs would end up choosing other, more commercially enticing career options,” he added.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)