Tracing rise and fall of football in Hyderabad; will Messi’s tour reignite the spark?

The inclusion of Hyderabad in Lionel Messi’s tour of India, alongside Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi, might puzzle the casual fan. After all, the city no longer holds the glitz and glamour of the current football powerhouses in the country, like Kolkata, Mumbai, Goa, or Kerala.

But turn back the clock a few years, rather a few decades, and the city’s once glorious past comes to light, when the sport thrived like a wildflower in spring. What is now fondly recalled as the golden period of Indian football had Hyderabad well and truly at the heart of it.

Hyderabad won the Santosh Trophy twice (1956-57, 1957-58), Hyderabad Police clinched five Rovers Cup titles and, along the way, produced a host of players who have represented the country at various international events, including two Olympic Games.

The list of legends from the bygone eras – Syed Abdul Rahim, Sayed Khwaja, Syed Nayeemuddin, Shahid Wasim, Mohammed Habib, Shabbir Ali, Victor Amalraj, Peter Thangaraj, Tulsidas Balaram and Dharmalingam Kannan to name a few – all have a Hyderabad connect. Many of them have even captained the national team, adding to the sheen.

Former football players (from left) Syed Nayeemuddin, Mohammed Habib and Victor Amalraj at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad on September 28, 2017. File
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SUBRAHMANYAM VV

That the famed Calcutta Maidan was once a stomping ground of players from the city is proof of the heft the city’s products carried. The wealthy were always in the scene as patrons of football. If it’s corporates today, it was aristocrats like Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam, before. 

Hyderabad got its first all-India competition, the Majeed tournament, in 1910. While it was a roaring success, it was abandoned three years later due to a tussle between two teams. But the seeds of a revolution were sown. One by one, teams formed, strengthened and established themselves in the 1930s, from Gymkhana School and Nizam College to Osmania University.

The foundation for Hyderabad’s football legacy was laid over four crucial years. The local football association was established in 1939. Rahim took charge as its secretary in 1942 and Hyderabad Police emerged victorious in the Ashe Gold Cup one year later. It was all uphill after that. Rahim, widely considered the architect of modern Indian football, played a big role in giving Hyderabad an identity in the national scene. A visionary coach, he had a keen eye for talent and the know-how to mould from the clay of their raw abilities some truly world-class talents.

“Without doubt, Hyderabad’s greatness can be traced to Rahim saab, he was the pioneer. Only after that did we come, establish ourselves and then went on to do well in Calcutta and Bombay,” former India striker and Dhyanchand Awardee, Shabbir Ali, told The Hindu.

“Being from Hyderabad, he knew the players, the clubs and the system. Many players from here went to the national level and gave results to the country.”

Amalraj, who has captained all three of Kolkata’s giants – Mohammedan Sporting, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan – concurs. “You cannot forget our Rahim sir and his contributions. He had a knack for spotting talent and a vision. That’s how top players have come in that era,” said Amalraj.

He fondly recalled the landscape of the city in its heyday. “Those days, there was a solid football culture in places like the Secunderabad cantonment area, Bowenpally, Gandhi Nagar, Ramkrishna Puram, Kamla Nagar and others. Now all of that has sadly vanished,” he lamented.

What helped the City of Pearls be a conveyor belt for talent was the strong grassroots structure. “The thing is, the production was there. School- and college-level tournaments were there. A lot of things were happening all the time. Everywhere you looked, there were tournaments in those days. That is missing right now, that culture is missing now,” rued Amalraj.

For the 63-year-old, memories of Hyderabad and football revolve around the Olympians who represented the country with distinction. “When I look back, the first memory I get is of the Olympians. Peter Thangaraj – double Olympian; Balaram is also a double Olympian. Kannan from Secunderabad, Yousuf Khan, and so many others. That was such a great time for the sport,” Alamraj said.

In a sad turn of fate, the talent pool dried up, a phase for Hyderabad which coincided with the rise of teams from football hotbeds Goa, Kolkata, and the North East.

A glimmer of hope emerged with Hyderabad FC in the Indian Super League. The side defied all odds and outdazzled established giants with its youthful exuberance en route a famous championship win in 2021-22. For a brief second, fans believed that the spark had ignited once more. 

Alas, it was not to be. The team has since folded, changed ownership, and moved to Delhi. Top-flight men’s football itself is in dire straits in India, with 2025 marking the first time since 1996 that premier division football has not taken place in the country. Hyderabad, too, has been left looking for its next chapter in the Indian football scene.

“The government and corporate teams are not there. That is the biggest handicap hurting football in Hyderabad,” Shabbir said. That brings us to the present. 

Messi, considered one of the greatest players of all time (GOAT), is set to land in Hyderabad on Saturday. He will be in the city for a few hours, entertain the crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium for less than an hour, and leave to Mumbai. In a nation smitten by stardom, the expectation that this tour might inspire the next generation to take Hyderabad to its old glory is understandable, if not logical. 

Will this be the masterstroke that Hyderabad has long needed? Or is this just another event that the city will consume and move on without a second thought? Between these ifs and buts lies the ambiguous limbo of the present. Over to you, maestro Messi.

Published – December 12, 2025 10:43 pm IST