As we are all set to applaud for the grand finale of the month-long greatest show (football world cup) on Earth, Rooter, the first-of-its-kind live social sports engagement platform, divulges some interesting data on the behaviour of more than two lakh football fans over the last 25 days PAN India. Thanks to its innovative live sports fantasy gaming & other features, Rooter takes on the country's changing preferences as far as the game goes.

The behavioural data insights indicate that India’s biggest footballing hubs – West Bengal and Kerala are slowly but surely breaking away from their almost fanatical and exclusive support for footballing giants – Argentina & Brazil, and have become much more accepting of other teams as potential title contenders. This conclusion is corroborated by the fact that Rooter’s mobile app registered 21 percent less traction during Brazil's matches & 33.3 percent less traction during Argentina's matches compared to England's matches – in West Bengal. The report also reveals that the passion for football is growing significantly among other states such as Maharashtra, which emerges prominently as a big promising footballing market.

We have witnessed unparalleled growth in our engagement and app-interaction levels over the past few weeks

Commenting on the trends, Piyush, Founder & CEO, Rooter says, “For almost a month now, Indian football fans have followed their favourite players and teams most passionately. We have witnessed unparalleled growth in our engagement and app-interaction levels over the past few weeks. This puts us in a solid position to collate some of the trends noticed during this period, and it is extremely heartening to see football enthusiasts emerge from states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana”. He continues, “The trends mapped, much like FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, have offered a few highly unpredictable results, which overall, make the growth of the beautiful game all the more exciting in India!”


Coming to star players, the report underlines the popularity of Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo in India, with Messi emerging as Indian football fans’ most favourite player to be picked during Rooter’s Live Fantasy game. He is followed by Neymar Jr. and Ronaldo, with Brazilian attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho and English striker Harry Kane rounding off the list.

The report has detailed the top 5 players for each position on Rooter, which are as follows-

1. Goalkeeper – Kasper Schmeichel, Danijel Subašić, Guillermo Ochoa, David Ospina, Thibault Courtois

2. Striker - Neymar, Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard, Lionel Messi

3. Midfielder - Isco, Philippe Coutinho, Toni Kroos, Granit Xhaka, Luka Modric

4. Defender – Jordi Alba, Yuto Nagatomo, Marcus Rojo, Mario Figueira Fernandes, Kyle Walker.

Indeed, not just football, the data on Rooter maps user behaviour of nearly a million sports fans on board, across different sports in India. Incepted in 2016 by Piyush & Akshat Goel (Co-Founder & CTO), Rooter engages sports fans during live sports matches, majorly owing to Live Match Prediction Game, Live Fantasy Game and Sports Social Feed across eight sports (Cricket, Football, Hockey, Tennis, Basketball, Kabaddi, Badminton, & F1).