'9 states, 10 athletes': India's Special Olympics football team eyes historic Gothia Cup hat-trick in Sweden
India's Special Olympics football team eyes historic Gothia Cup hat-trick Photograph: (Agencies)
10 Indian Special Olympics footballers head to Gothia Cup 2026 in Sweden (Jul 12-18), eyeing a historic third straight title after back-to-back wins in 2024 and 2025.
India's Special Olympics football players received a rousing send off for the Gothia Cup 2026, scheduled to be held in Sweden from July 12 to July 18. India are two-time back-to-back champions for the tournament and hoping to create history by winning their third straight trophy. At a time when India is being missed at the ongoing FIFA 2026, 10 athletes, supported by SKF India and Special Olympics Bharat, are trying to make the country shine at the global stage in the same sport. The Gothia Cup provides not only a chance to these athletes but help them inspire millions other across the country. The athletes may have intellectual disabilities but their determination to win and perform for the country with support from Special Olympics Bharat and SKF India is nothing short of an extraordinary feat.
At the send off ceremony, which took place at Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi, India on Friday (Jul 10), WION spoke to the athletes and coaches as well as SKF India dignitaries who talked about their vision, inspiration and the journey so far.
"We are very happy, the team is very happy," was first response from the athletes when asked about how do they feel representing India at the global stage.
Speaking about the journey, the Indian athlete contingent said: "Our journey started in 2024 together with SKF, and we ended up being champions two years in running and now everybody's asking will it be a third time. We are aiming for the trophy definitely, we have a new set of players who are coming. Our motto at Special Olympics Bharat has always been to introduce the game to as much as new players we can, so we try and bring in new players every time.
"This year we started in April and we shortlisted 25 players based on their technical and tactical skills, we had a roster of around 10 coaches, from there we've had three camps, each camp designed in a way where we shortlist fewer players, some of the other players dropped as well as the coaches dropped as well.
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"And then what we have is the final team of 10 players headed by coach Onassis and the assistant coach of coach Venkat. We have players from 10 different states and our coaches are also from different states, so I think we have to thank SKF for the partnership and it takes a lot of effort to bring all these individuals from different states, bringing them together as a team and delivering it on the field."
The thoughts of athletes echoed SKF India's vision and inspiration behind the support and Shashi Shetty, who leads the initiative for SKF India (Industrial), said: "Gothia is like a legacy for us and the vision is that we want to create an inclusive environment for everyone for and create a development pathway for our athletes. We just do not want it to be a normal sport, we want it to be where the life skills they learn that, we are also wanting to enable employability and we want to give them access to meaningful opportunity so that they are satisfied and live a very fulfilling life. It's a pride moment for us because we have been winning since last two years and definitely I would say the pressure is not there but still we expect a lot right now from our athletes and the mission is like we want them to participate as well as we want more and more athletes to participate.
WION also asked Sujeeth Pai, Director of Manufacturing Operations, SKF India (Industrial) Limited, about the future plans for the growth of sports at the grassroot level, to which he replied: "Currently, the focus is on Gothia Cup. As for future, nothing is ruled out for the initiatives we pick up and what we look at and we will evaluate as they come and we will look at how they fit into four different elements that we have. Also, as an organization we have a blank slate, but we do have the guiding principles and it's early days for us given it's our first year of operating as SKF industrial and as we go along we will evaluate and pick and figure out which ones (initiatives) we focus on."
Dr. Mallika Nadda, President Special Olympics Bharat and Chairperson Special Olympics Asia Pacific also wished the athletes and said, "Our football team has made the entire nation proud by winning the Gothia Special Olympics Trophy in 2024 and successfully defending the title in 2025. As they travel to Sweden for Gothia Cup 2026, they have a remarkable opportunity to create history by becoming the first team to win the championship three consecutive times. I am confident they will give their very best and represent India and Special Olympics Bharat with pride, determination, and exemplary sportsmanship."
