India: Why a country of 1.4 billion is not in the football World Cup

The familiar lament that Indian football fans have learnt to live with is back after the "greatest show on earth" kicked off last week .

For those tracking the fortunes of the Blue Tigers - as the Indian men's national football team is called - over the years, the question is one of the biggest clichés as the country has never progressed beyond the preliminary rounds of Asian zone qualifiers.

The irony, however, lies in the manner in which the World Cup is celebrated in a number of football-crazy Indian states such as West Bengal, Kerala and Goa - or in the growing number of accredited Indian journalists covering the event on the ground despite the country having no stakes in the competition.

"We have faced frequent questions in the press box as to whether India plays football. Most of them know us as a cricket-playing nation," joked a senior Indian football writer who has covered four World Cups.

It's not just India - neighbour China, the world's second-most populous country, has also not qualified for the World Cup again. Fifa, however, is well aware of the importance of these markets, prompting it to dispatch a high-powered media rights team to India to secure a last-minute broadcasting deal for live coverage of the matches.

So will a place in the World Cup continue to be a bridge too far for India?

Baichung Bhutia, former national team captain and arguably one of the biggest names in Indian football, thinks it's not impossible - though there are no shortcuts.

"Yes, India can definitely play [in the World Cup] as nothing is impossible. The quota of Asian teams have gone up to eight [along with a ninth team in Iraq which came through from confederation play-offs this time] in the bigger 48-team format, where teams like Uzbekistan and Jordan are playing. However, it will require a lot of hard work," he said.