Ukhrul’s football dream: a village team’s run to the national spotlight
A club from a hill town of 6,000 reached the national league's final qualifying round — on homemade training grounds.
When the young footballers of Ukhrul United boarded a bus for Imphal, they carried boots donated by former players and a training pitch that doubles as a paddy field after harvest.
The club, run by volunteers and funded by chai stall collections, reached the final qualifying round of a national league — the farthest any Manipur hill club has gone in a decade.
Their coach, a former semi-pro who returned from Delhi, says the run has changed the town: ‘Every child here now believes it is possible.’