World Cup fever grips B’luru’s football faithful

Bengaluru, 

The FIFA World Cup is here and football fans in the city are gearing up to celebrate the sport again. Being hosted in North America this time, the tournament has always been a worldwide celebration of the sport. Bengaluru too has its share of football fanatics who are very excited to be witnessing their favourite players and national teams take to the biggest stage in the sport.

“In our area, Gowthampura, we have repainted Pele's statue. Also, we have done a lot of paintings for the walls and many other decorations. Also, I have a cafe called Clin's Café, where everything is completely set up in Brazilian colours, I also have a replica of the World Cup and also a six-feet World Cup cutout outside my cafe” said Clinton Anthony, professional football player from Gowthampuram. The area, also called Little Brazil for its culture of football fanaticism, has a statue of Pele and a large replica of the World Cup outside the Gowthama puram football ground.

Generally, during a World Cup, the residents arrange screenings for the matches, however, this year, the police have banned screenings after 1pm, making it impossible for tradition to continue. “Since it is banned now, we are not able to do the screening. But we follow all matches every day. We have a group where we update every match results and what is the highlight of the match,” Clinton said.

The matches are scheduled to be played only after midnight and the last match of the day typically starts at 6:30 AM. But even with the time difference, fans are ready to stay up late to watch the matches. “Most matches are late at night or early morning, but honestly for the World Cup, it’s totally worth it. And I’ve been watching the World Cup with my dad since I was small, having snacks. At night I’ll catch the big matches live. Sleep can wait when it's World Cup time,” said Nickey, a football player in the city.

Fan clubs of football clubs are also gearing up for the tournament which will feature some of the players from their favourite clubs. But more so, fans are just looking forward to watching some good football. John George of the Hebbal Arsenal fan club said, “With the tournament expanding and featuring more teams than ever before, the competition is set to be bigger and more intense."