Sirshendu PanthKolkata, Dec. 30 -- It's been a year of stark contrasts for Indian football. While the women's team wrote history, the men's game stumbled from one crisis to another, leaving fans wondering what went wrong.
Indian eves created a sensation by qualifying for their maiden AFC Women's Asian Cup, but 2025 proved to be a highly forgettable year for Indian men's soccer, with the senior team dropping 16 slots in FIFA rankings, and failing to proceed to the AFC Asian Cup for the first time.
Away from the on-field action, the men's domestic schedule remained enveloped in darkness, with the nation's premier tournament Indian Super League (ISL), proving to be a non-starter till now as the All India Football Federation (AIFF) - the game...