Brazil are here.
That sentence alone should have been enough to send Kolkata into a football frenzy.
This is a city with football in its core, and Brazil has always occupied a big part of that core. For generations, the yellow shirts have appeared every four years, flags have gone up on balconies, arguments over Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Neymar have filled tea stalls and football clubs, and children have grown up picking their Brazilian heroes long before they could properly explain why.
For years, Brazil existed here from a distance. Their matches were watched late into the night, their shirts filled the Maidan, their stars became familiar faces on television and their victories and defeats became part of Kolkata’s own football conversations. Now, the team that has lived in so many of those memories is finally in the city itself, with Vinicius Junior, Endrick, Bruno Guimaraes and Marquinhos preparing to walk out at Salt Lake Stadium against India.
You can feel the change as you move around Kolkata, although it is not quite as simple as a city stopping everything for Brazil. Yet the closer you get to the Maidan, the football markets and Salt Lake, the harder it becomes to miss what is coming.
Brazil and India hoardings have gone up around the city, with the Brazilian players sharing space with familiar local faces. In some of the larger displays, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s photograph is more prominent than the Brazilian players themselves. That might strike Brazilian journalists travelling here as a peculiar sight, but for people in West Bengal, it is hardly unfamiliar. Political faces have long been part of the visual landscape around major public events here.
At Salt Lake, meanwhile, the preparation has been impossible to ignore. Barricades have come up, security has been tightened and the stadium has been given a fresh look for the occasion, including cushioned seats in the dugouts replacing the familiar plastic chairs. Around 2,500 police personnel and 20 IPS officers have been deployed, with central forces kept on reserve, as the authorities try to make sure the occasion is remembered for the football.
Brazil’s arrival on Thursday night brought another wave of attention. Supporters were kept away from the airport and the route to the team hotel, while the squad moved into preparations for Saturday’s friendly.
Then came Friday’s training session at Salt Lake Stadium.
More than 300 media personnel turned up for the opening part of the session, including Brazilian journalists who had travelled with the team. Vinicius Junior and Gabriel were greeted with loud cheers as they walked out, and for those inside the stadium, it was the first proper glimpse of what Kolkata had been waiting for.
For a few minutes, Salt Lake felt less like the venue for a friendly and more like a stadium preparing for a major international occasion.
KOLKATA HAS NOT FORGOTTEN MESSI
Lionel Messi’s visit last year was supposed to be another celebration of Kolkata’s football culture. Instead, it ended with angry supporters, crowd-management problems and questions over how the event had been handled.
That experience has shaped the preparations for Brazil. Security around Salt Lake has been tightened, entry arrangements have been reworked and the authorities have clearly tried to address the problems that emerged during Messi’s appearance.
The security presence is not simply about protecting Brazil. It is about managing a city that can become intensely emotional when football comes this close to home.
Kolkata knows what happens when anticipation meets poor organisation. This time, the expectation is that the football, rather than the arrangements around it, will become the story.
BRAZIL HAS TO SHARE THE CITY
There is another reason the Brazil build-up does not completely consume Kolkata.
Durga Puja is around the corner, and the city is already deep into preparations. Pandal structures are coming up, lights are being fixed and neighbourhoods are getting ready for the biggest festival on the calendar. Brazil has arrived in a city that was already busy before the team landed.
In some parts of Kolkata, you can almost miss the fact that Brazil are here. Puja banners and the usual city clutter dominate plenty of roads. Around the Maidan and the football markets, however, the mood changes.
Brazil shirts are being picked up alongside India jerseys, while supporters talk about Vinicius, Endrick and Ancelotti and wonder what India can do against them. Shopkeepers have noticed the difference.
“Lots and lots of people are coming to buy jerseys. The demand is there for both teams. Some want Brazil, while some want India.”
“This is a very big match, and people are also excited about it. Just like the crowd here in the market, there will also be a big crowd at the ground.”
The shirts are moving, the conversations are happening, but there is still another issue hanging over the occasion.
THE TICKET PRICE HAS HURT
Public tickets ranged from Rs 999 to Rs 15,000, with the cheaper categories selling quickly. AIFF later made more than 14,000 discounted tickets available through Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting, giving supporters another route into the stadium.
But for some fans, the original prices were simply too high.
“See, this is entirely on the management. Whatever they’ve already decided, that’s only going to happen. What we say doesn’t really matter. If only these ticket prices were a little lower, people like us could have afforded them too. Nevertheless, we’re going to show our support in our own way. Even if we cannot go to the stadium, we will watch the match at home and experience it in our own way.”
That is perhaps the most Kolkata part of it. If you cannot get inside the stadium, you find somewhere else to watch, and the game still becomes part of your weekend.
For the organisers, though, getting the people who have bought tickets into Salt Lake smoothly will be just as important as what happens once the football starts.
INDIA HAVE THEIR OWN TEST
Amid all the Brazil shirts and talk of Vinicius and Ancelotti, there is an Indian team preparing for a very different kind of evening.
Khalid Jamil’s side come into the game after a 1-1 draw against Panama in Bengaluru. Ryan Williams put India ahead before Omar Javier Valencia equalised, but India remained competitive for long periods against a Panama side ranked 44th in the world and preparing for the 2026 World Cup.
Brazil are a different proposition altogether, and Jamil has no intention of pretending otherwise.
“If you’re serious, we are playing Brazil, pressure is there. So, according to me, you must do simple things and not do extra. And we already told the players, we are playing with a good team. Any mistake will cost us very badly. So we have to give our best and be cautious.”
The Indian coach knows there will be moments when his team has to defend, and others when it has to find a way forward.
“If it is required to be defensive, we have to be defensive. If we have to attack, we will attack according to the situation,” Jamil said. “And yes, if you are playing a stronger team, defensively you have to be strong.”
Anwar Ali knows the Panama performance cannot become a comfort blanket.
“I think last match we played very good. But we have to forget that match because we have a very big game tomorrow. So we have to focus on that and give our 100%.”
That is probably the simplest way India can approach an evening that already feels much bigger than a normal friendly.
ANCELOTTI HAS BEEN WATCHING
Carlo Ancelotti has done his homework. He watched India’s draw against Panama and picked out Ryan Williams as one of the players Brazil will have to watch.
“We saw the last game that they played against Panama and we thought it was a good team. In fact, with the striker Williams, that could be dangerous for us. We are looking, of course, with respect for the team. We are looking at their quality and their characteristics to try to prepare for the game.”
Ancelotti also does not want Brazil’s players treating the occasion as a casual stop on the calendar.
“For the squad and for all of the players, this is not a test. This is an opportunity.”
Brazil are also trying to build again, with several younger players now part of the squad. Ancelotti wants them to settle into the national team without losing the quality that has traditionally defined Brazilian football.
“The commitment, of course, is really important, and the quality too. And the happiness to play football, that is important for the Brazilians,” he said. “The happiness is a really important quality that the Brazilian has, such a culture. So I would like that the players could play enjoyable, with happiness, in the game.”
Marquinhos is experiencing India for the first time and has already felt the reception.
“It’s very happy to be here in India today. It’s my first time in India and I’m enjoying it so far. And thank you for the warm welcome we received yesterday when arriving here in Kolkata.”
For him, there is no such thing as an ordinary Brazil game.
“I agree with Professor Carlo that there is no friendly for Brazil. Every game is a big opportunity to display Brazil’s amazing skill,” he said. “I look forward to all matches as if it’s my first match or my last match. All of them.”
IS AIFF ACTUALLY READY?
The football operation is only one part of hosting a team like Brazil, and this is where some questions have already surfaced.
More than 300 media personnel attended Brazil’s training session, but the accreditation cards that were supposed to be distributed afterwards had not arrived when the session ended. Journalists were left waiting for clarity over their access less than 24 hours before the match.
The frustration was made worse by the fact that social media influencers and content creators had been given special access around the ground while journalists covering the match were still waiting for the basic credentials required to do their jobs.
This is not about whether influencers should be part of a modern sporting event. It is about the organisation of access. For a match of this scale, journalists who have travelled to Kolkata to cover Brazil and India should not be left wondering whether they will have the accreditation they were promised.
There have also been wider organisational concerns around the Brazilian delegation’s preparations, including questions around coordination, pitch management, match operations, security and emergency planning.
None of that tells us what will happen when the match begins. But hosting Brazil is about much more than getting the players on the pitch. The stadium, security, media operation, supporter movement and matchday logistics all have to work together.
And after Messi, Kolkata will be watching all of it.
For all the questions around the organisation, however, the central feeling in the city remains remarkably simple. Kolkata has spent decades watching Brazil from afar, turning Brazilian players into household names and making their football part of its own football language.
Now Vinicius Junior, Endrick, Bruno Guimaraes and Marquinhos are here, with Ancelotti on the touchline and Salt Lake waiting. The city will still have its Puja preparations, its Maidan conversations and its usual chaos, but for one night, Brazil has become part of all of it.
The team that has occupied such a large space in Kolkata’s football imagination is finally standing in front of the city.
We will get to know it all tonight.
– Ends
