Varanasi club Inter Kashi powers UP’s football dreams — with a Spanish touch

INTER KASHI are just a technicality away from winning the I-League and subsequent promotion to the Indian Super League. After the end of the season earlier this month, Churchill Brothers and the two-year-old UP-based club had found themselves in a limbo. With the result of one of Inter Kashi’s league games undecided — it has been alleged that their opponent Namdhari FC played an ineligible player — the All India Football Federation (AIFF) had put the title, and Inter Kashi’s dream, on hold.But whichever way the decision goes, the world’s most popular sport finally has a presence in India’s most populous state.
Club president Prithiijit Das, who hails from West Bengal and had previously worked with the AIFF, believes that the population of Uttar Pradesh, combined with its GDP, provides an opportunity for a cultural change in how football is viewed in a state where cricket pitches and hockey turfs are readily available, but football grounds not so much.
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Inter Kashi came into exence in 2023 and was inducted into the I-League directly.
“We had the opportunity to build a club in one of the oldest cities in the world. Also, the Uttar Pradesh Football Sangh is based out of Varanasi. So, where you have no football culture, it makes a lot of sense to have a club from the city where the football association is situated,” Das told The Indian Express.
In their first year, Inter Kashi signed English professional Peter Hartley. The next year, they went one step further and hired Antonio Habas as their coach. The Spaniard, the most successful coach in the hory of the ISL (two titles with ATK and the ISL Winner’s Shield with Mohun Bagan Super Giant), chose to work in the Indian second division once he was convinced about Inter Kashi’s goals.
“I accepted the proposal because, from the very beginning, the club struck me as honest and transparent in its approach, with a clear vision,” said Habas. “At the same time, we put together a high-level technical and support staff, with whom it was very easy to work.”Story continues below this ad
But despite being the first club from Uttar Pradesh that could possibly make it to the ISL, the challenges faced Inter Kashi are largely institutional. Habas is uniquely placed to delve into them.
“The main gap lies in the infrastructure that supports the game — in the I-League, training facilities and pitches are clearly of lower quality. In some aspects, it’s a league that feels more semi-professional than professional. You can’t run a league with professional actors but provide only semi-professional means to develop it,” said the Spaniard.
Inter Kashi captain Sumeet Passi is a forward who has played for multiple I-League and ISL teams and understands the desire to grow football in a region where it’s not a part of the culture. Passi, whose father played football for Railways, hails from Haryana, a state which has given India some of its top sportspersons — yet not many footballers. He feels Inter Kashi has done the basics right.
“In my experience, there are only one or two teams in the I-League that are able to provide players with accommodation, travel arrangements and hotels during the season. They give salaries on time. That set-up isn’t a given,” said Passi.Story continues below this ad
The club hasn’t been able to play their home matches in Varanasi, but will do so next season as a facility has been allotted to them. Das said the venue would seat 5,000 fans at first and comply with Asian Football Confederation rules, with expansions planned subsequently. While there aren’t any players from Uttar Pradesh in the team as of now, efforts are on to build youth teams that can nurture players in the state and turn them into professional footballers.
“We have a full youth structure – U-13, U-15, U-17. The U-17 matches were played in Kashi, the U-15s in Jammu and the U-13s in Uttarakhand. I think in just two years of our exence, we are the only club which has an U-13, U-15, U-17, senior team and a women’s team,” said Das.