India beat Pakistan’s football team 4-0 backed by cheering home crowds on Wednesday, the first time it has hosted the national team from its neighbour and bitter adversary since 2014.
While cricket reigns supreme in both nations, football is still extremely popular, with fans cheering arriving team buses for the opening day of the South Asia Football Federation (SAFF) Championship in India’s southern city of Bengaluru.
Security was tight at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium with hundreds of police and security guards deployed, with M Satyanarayan, SAFF project head saying “extra precautions” had been taken.
As the home team bus arrived, fans waved India flags and chanted the name of skipper Sunil Chhetri.
Pakistan’s team arrived shortly after, while some in the crowd chanted “India”, but the crowds in the stadium later stood up for the rival national anthem and applauded when it ended.
The two nuclear nations have fought three wars since being carved out of the subcontinent’s partition in 1947.
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