FIFA World Cup: In Kolkata, the final is still between Argentina and Brazil

A makeshift gate marks the entry to the ‘Fan Zone’ in a Baghajatin alley in south Kolkata. Draped in blue and white, there are posters of Argentina’s star football players past and present — Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi — on either side. Welcome to the den of the Argentina Football Fan Club.

It’s the final countdown to the showdown between the men in blue and white and the ‘Les Bleus’ on Sunday. And the excitement is palpable. But in the hearts of diehard Argentina fans, the match is already won and planning for post-match celebrations is in the works.    

About 300 bikes and 30 horse carriages have been booked for a celebration rally; the route is yet to be finalised and there could be other “big” elements in the programme. But lest it gets jinxed, it’s all very hush-hush.

“The celebration plans are big, but we don’t want to disclose them right now. Let us first get the cup,” Happy Saha, joint secretary of the fan club, says.

Happy’s uncle, Uttam Saha, the founder and secretary of the Club, is in Qatar, and save for a brief period, has mostly been there since the tournament started. Fifty-eight-year-old Uttam is more emphatic in his belief. “Hundred per cent, Argentina will win,” he says from Qatar.

But if Baghajatin is a picture of hope and celebration, then Fakir Chakraborty Lane in north Kolkata is just coming to terms with Brazil’s early exit from the tournament.

Soumen Bora, a member of the executive body of Uttar Kolkata Dishari Club, says that there were plans for screening the match on Sunday. “But I am a Brazil supporter and I just can’t get down to organising it.” The narrow lane, though, is bedecked in Brazil and Argentina flags.

Wall graffiti, festoons and flags – a battle of one-upmanship is playing out in the nooks and corners of Kolkata. Or, at least where the para (neighbourhood) clubs thrive.

It’s a state sharply divided, not geographically or culturally, but in its deep loyalty towards the two Latin American teams, Argentina and Brazil — much like the intense rivalry shared between the fans of Mohun Bagan (now ATK Mohun Bagan) and East Bengal (now Emami East Bengal). 

The two are among Asia’s oldest football clubs with a fan base that runs into millions. Mahtab Ahmad, who runs a small jersey and merchandise store in Bidhan Market in central Kolkata, is enjoying the rivalry and earnestly looking forward to Sunday.

He had ordered about 500 pieces of Argentina jerseys. But they sold out soon and he had to restock. Curiously enough, after Argentina made it to the semi-finals, even Brazil jerseys started selling, he says. Of course, the Messi jersey is the one that is disappearing from shelves fastest ahead of the finals.

Ahmad is rooting for Argentina. “If they win, I am assured of good business for the next four years.”

France, too, has a pull, which may be more pronounced in Chandannagar, a former French enclave, about 50km from Kolkata. In 2018 when France lifted the cup, the celebrations there were big. A repeat is what they are hoping for.

Nicolas Facino, director, Alliance Française du Bengale, said he had witnessed a steady growth in the number of supporters for the French team since last couple of months.

“Mbappe is literally a football sensation among the young generation here. It was indeed an emotional moment when audience were shouting in support of Lloris, the goalkeeper of the French team who was defending one after another goal in the semi-final against Morocco.”

“West Bengal has already two prominent football groups. East Bengal and Mohunbagan and I know that people here know how to appreciate good game,” the director added.

But what gravitates majority of Bengal toward Argentina and Brazil? Political analyst Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury deconstructs that it comes from a postcolonial perspective – an apathy towards the rich, developed countries of the Global North automatically makes the local fans lean towards the less economically developed countries of the Global South.

There is historical context to it. “The IFA Shield, one of the oldest football competitions in the world that started in 1893, was monopolised by the British Army teams and Royal Irish Rifles. But the hegemony ended in 1911 when Mohun Bagan defeated the East Yorkshire regiment,” explains Basu Ray Chaudhury.

Bengal’s love for Brazil started early – even before the legendary Pele, representing New York Cosmos, played a friendly match with Mohun Bagan in Eden Gardens in 1977. But 1986, the year FIFA World Cup was first telecast live in India, belonged to Maradona, possibly marking a turning point in Bengal’s Latin American love.

The Argentine legend also played friendly matches in Kolkata in 2008 and 2017. Then, in 2011, Messi played a friendly FIFA match against Venezuela. The city has also had brushes with other international football players off and on.

Observers say that exposure to European football leagues, especially the English Premier League, has helped bring some diversity to the fan base in Kolkata more recently. But for the paras, the football world is still divided between Brazil and Argentina. This Sunday, though, the field will only be for the men in blue and white.

Final countdown

• Neighbourhoods bedecked in blue and white
• Messi jerseys selling like hot cakes
• Demand for Brazil jerseys remains, despite team’s early exit
• Big events planned at Argentina Football Fan Club