As Cristiano Ronaldo’s dream turns sour, Indian football fans are faced with a reality check

FC Goa’s match against Al Nassr was in some ways marketed as the biggest night in Indian club football, with the match largely revolving around the potential arrival of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. But his absence hardly dampened the enthusiasm of the fans, some of whom were even naive enough to believe that the authorities were purposefully hiding him just to introduce him into the match and deliver Indian football’s biggest upset ever.

While Ronaldo’s surprising performance could be called wishful thinking to the logical mind, when does passion in sport border on logic?

In Goa, football dominates. It is one of the few places where the ‘beautiful game’ triumphs in a country where cricket enjoys the lion’s share of buzz and limelight, and alone generates more revenue than all other sports combined.

But does the modern fan have a love for the game in general, or for specific individuals who play the sport? The ‘Superstar culture’ is rampant in modern football, and the diary was a testament to that even in the football-mad state of Goa.

READ | Al Nassr beat FC Goa 2-1 in AFC Champions League Two

Ronaldo’s no-show

As the diary made the long journey from North Goa airport to Margao, there was a distinct change in the environment as soon as the car came near the Fatorda Stadium. Fans wore Al Nassr jerseys, mostly brandishing the name Ronaldo, while some also wore the names Joao Felix and Sadio Mane.

«It is a huge disappointment that Ronaldo is not playing. I really hope there are last minute changes because Goans have been waiting for a long time to see him play. We see (FC) Goa regularly so it is usual for us. But seeing players like Ronaldo, Mane and Felix is ​​a unique opportunity,» said 21-year-old Baxter Pereira.

Declining turnout

While Baxter’s statement reflects that of a frustrated fan who has lost the opportunity to see a global phenomenon like Ronaldo play in his home state, his thought process is not isolated.

When the Indian Super League (ISL) kicked off in 2014, the tournament was keen to capitalize on the stellar quality of the yesteryear phenomena to attract fans to the stadium.

Players like Roberto Carlos, Marco Materazzi, David Trezeguet, Diego Forlan, Elano, Dimitar Berbatov and Alessandro Del Piero played for various franchises and were huge crowd pullers.

FC Goa also had a host of legends who played for the club in the early years of the ISL. In the first year, legendary French striker Roberto Pires played for the Gaurs. A World Cup and EURO winner with France, Pires rose to legend status at Arsenal and was part of the famous ‘Invincibles’ under Arsène Wenger, who won the 2003-04 Premier League title without losing a single match. In 2015, Goa got Lucio, who was part of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning squad.

Because all these international stars regularly played football in Goa, the number of visitors was at an all-time high. In 2014, FC Goa had an average attendance of 18,066, with the highest attendance being 19,752. The average rose to 18,571 next year, with a high of 19,438.

While the international stars did their part to build the hype and maintain it in subsequent seasons, the average saw a drastic drop in subsequent seasons.

FC Goa head coach Manolo Marquez, however, refused to blame the dwindling attendances entirely on ‘Superstar Culture’.

«Fans will come if the team performs and we fight for everything. Last season, in almost every press conference, I talked about playing well and qualifying for Asia. These are matches we should play, with this kind of crowd. Now we have to keep going. Now we may come back to the reality of Indian football. We have to forget the past and look forward to the next match,» Marquez said at the post-match press conference.

READ | ‘We won against a team that refused to lose,’ says Al Nassr coach Jesus after victory over FC Goa

14,389 fans turned up at the Fatorda Stadium for FC Goa’s match against Al Nassr. Nine days earlier, when India played the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Singapore, around 1,000 tickets had been sold for that match.

While it is logical that interest in a star-studded team like Al Nassr will be highest, the stark contrast in fan interest in matches involving the national team is loud enough to say that there is something wrong with the way Indian football functions.

When Marquez was asked in the diary to shed some light on the contrast, he said: «Having been the (Indian) national team coach, I am not the right person to answer this. My time with the national team was bad, and I am not the right person to advise on this.»

FC Goa stalwart George D’Souza had a more direct answer: «Why will they (the fans) come? Has the Indian team done anything to make the fans happy? They can’t even qualify for the Asian Cup now. Even for this Al Nassr match, 99 percent bought a ticket because of Ronaldo. I personally know people who didn’t come even after buying a ticket because Ronaldo isn’t playing.»

When the pre-match diary went around asking fans which players they were most excited to watch, the majority lamented the fact that the evening had been partly spoiled by Ronaldo’s absence. Despite being a local boy, there were no fans for Brison Fernandes, who brought down the roof at the Fatorda Stadium with his goal.

But after the match, when the crowds had died down and the losing side, FC Goa, boarded the team bus, it was a heart-warming sight for the diary to see the team getting a nice cheer. When Brison came out of the mixed zone and walked towards the bus, he received the biggest applause, and some even chanted his name. Maybe not all hope is lost.

Published on October 23, 2025