Fifa has already done its bit to help the national team of India, backed by a country with a population of 1.4 billion, qualify for the 2026 World Cup by increasing Asia’s automatic allocation from four to eight. Now there is growing pressure on New Delhi to make a change that would increase the chances of the men’s national team heading from south Asia to North America from slight to something more substantial: to allow overseas-born players of Indian heritage active in some of the biggest leagues of Europe to represent the Blue Tigers.
Media and fans closely follow the fortunes of players of Indian origin (PIO) such as Manprit Sarkaria at Sturm Graz, Norwich’s Danny Batth, Dilan Markanday at Blackburn and Ross County’s Yan Dhanda, who would all be eligible to represent India if the country followed many others around the world.
