Opinion | Football Fever in Kashmir Can Real Kashmir FC Inspire a Generation?

In the aftermath of the devastating September 2014 floods that killed around 550 people across India and Pakistan and left much of Srinagar underwater, two men made a decision that had nothing directly to do with disaster relief and everything to do with what came after it. Shamim Meraj, and Sandeep Chattoo, arranged for around 1,000 footballs to be distributed among young people in the flood-affected Valley, an attempt to give displaced and traumatised youth something to focus on beyond the wreckage surrounding them. What began as a community outreach programme, modest in ambition and improvised in execution, would within four years become Real Kashmir FC, the first football club from the region ever to compete in the top tier of Indian football.

The club’s rise through Indian football’s league structure reads, by most accounts, like an underdog story that would strain credulity in fiction. Real Kashmir entered the I-League’s second division for the 2016-17 season and failed to progress past the preliminary group stage in its debut campaign, a modest enough start for a newly formed club with no established infrastructure. The following season told a different story entirely: the club, nicknamed the Snow Leopards, finished as champions of the 2017-18 I-League second division, defeating Hindustan FC 3-2 in the deciding match to earn promotion to the I-League itself, then the top flight of Indian football, becoming the first club from Jammu and Kashmir to reach that level in the sport’s national hierarchy. Central to that achievement was Scottish coach David Robertson, whose tactical direction is widely credited with turning a group of largely untested local players into a genuinely competitive professional side within remarkably short order.

The human stories behind that rise carry as much weight as the results on the pitch. Danish Farooq Bhat, now recognised in some circles as the Kashmiri Ronaldo, was working as a bank employee when Meraj approached him about joining the fledgling club. His father and uncle had both been footballers themselves, but the family’s finances had never allowed Danish to pursue the sport professionally, leaving him, in his own description, waiting for an opportunity that never quite materialised until Real Kashmir gave him one. He seized it decisively: after developing through the club between 2018 and 2021, scoring seven goals in 43 appearances, Danish moved on to Indian Super League clubs Bengaluru FC and Kerala Blasters, eventually earning a call-up to the Indian national team in August 2025 after accumulating 38 ISL appearances and four goals at the top domestic level. His trajectory, from an unpaid amateur risking his own money on travel and equipment just to attend practice, to a full India international, remains the clearest single illustration of what Real Kashmir’s academy and pathway have proven capable of producing.

The club’s on-field achievements since that initial promotion have been solid rather than spectacular, which in the context of Indian football’s competitive landscape still represents a genuine accomplishment for a region working with limited government support and no purpose-built modern stadium. Real Kashmir finished third in the I-League in both its debut 2018-19 season and again in 2024-25, and won the 123rd edition of the IFA Shield in December 2020, defeating George Telegraph at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium in what remains the club’s first major domestic trophy. Through the 2025-26 season, the club’s league record stood at 53 wins, 45 draws and 36 losses, a respectable and consistent showing for a side that continues to operate from the TRC Turf Ground in Srinagar rather than a large purpose-built facility, and that has periodically faced practical obstacles unique to its geography, including visa delays affecting foreign players attempting to reach national cup fixtures.

Home support for the club has become one of its most distinctive features, with attendance figures reflecting genuine local enthusiasm rather than manufactured hype. The highest recorded home attendance reached 7,632 spectators for a match against Mohammedan in March 2024, with an average home league attendance around 3,207, respectable numbers for a league that struggles nationally with attendance and broader commercial interest compared to cricket’s dominant position in Indian sport. The club has also extended its footprint into women’s football, launching a women’s team in September 2020 in partnership with Delhi Public School Srinagar, marking the establishment of Kashmir’s first all-women’s club football team and signalling an intent to build a broader footballing ecosystem rather than simply fielding a single men’s professional side.

Real Kashmir’s story has, more recently, transcended the sports pages entirely. A television series based on the club’s founding and rise, developed with involvement from Jaya Entertainment and released on SonyLIV in December 2025, became what industry observers described as a genuine global breakout for Indian streaming content, drawing comparisons to the widely celebrated Wrexham AFC documentary series for its portrayal of a community using football as a vehicle for hope and identity amid difficult circumstances. Industry commentary noted that Indian football’s chronic financial struggles, operating in the shadow of cricket’s overwhelming national popularity, made the emergence of a globally resonant football narrative from Kashmir specifically notable, suggesting the club’s story carries commercial and cultural value well beyond its results on the pitch.

Whether Real Kashmir FC can genuinely inspire a broader generation of footballers across the Valley, rather than remaining a singular success story built around one club and a handful of standout players like Danish Farooq, depends substantially on factors the club itself cannot fully control: sustained investment in grassroots academies, stadium infrastructure that matches the enthusiasm evident in its home attendance figures, and a security and connectivity environment stable enough to let young players train, travel and compete without the disruptions that have periodically affected the club’s own operations. What the club has already demonstrated, though, is that the raw talent and appetite exist. A group of boys who received free footballs in the aftermath of a flood eleven years ago has since produced an India international, a top-flight club, and now a television series watched well beyond the Valley’s borders, evidence that opportunity, once genuinely offered, tends to find takers in Kashmir just as readily as anywhere else.

Writer is an author and can be mailed on mdmuslimbhat@gmail.com