Nagaland United hosts Gokulam Kerala FC in its first Indian Football League home match at Chümoukedima on Saturday
NUSC to play first IFL home match against Gokulam Kerala FC on Saturday
DIMAPUR — This is a love letter that has been a long, long time coming; generations of boys and girls in Nagaland have grown up and grown older still, become men and women, while waiting for this particular letter to arrive.
Like all the best letters, this one is handwritten in ink that carries the unmistakable shade of Nagaland. Once unsealed, it carries a promise as well.
That of a belonging, of a game that speaks in Nagaland’s own accent, and of an identity ready to be written not in borrowed words, but in the voices of its own people.
And so, on Saturday, the long-awaited letter will finally arrive at its destination: Chümoukedima Football Stadium, where Nagaland United Sports Club (NUSC) will take the field against Gokulam Kerala FC at 6.30 pm.
Technically, the letter first bore a Srinagar postmark. On October 30, the club walked onto the pitch at TRC Stadium and announced its arrival in the Indian Football League (IFL) with a 3-1 victory over Real Kashmir FC.
Saturday, however, will bring the letter closer to its intended recipients: the people of Nagaland. It will be the club’s first match before its own supporters, and the first IFL fixture to be played in the state.
Also read: Nagaland United SC to host Gokulam Kerala FC in Indian Football League match
Nearly eight decades later, Nagaland United—founded in Chümoukedima in 2024—has given that story a new address in the national league.
For Ghuqhe Chishi, one of the club’s under-20 graduates, the prospect of playing before a home crowd carries particular meaning.
“Playing in front of our own people, representing Nagaland and wearing this jersey on home ground is something I am really looking forward to,” he said. “We want to make them proud, and we will give everything on the pitch.”
But there is wisdom in being cautious of the visitors who are well versed in the language of the league: Gokulam Kerala, after all, won back-to-back I-League titles in 2020–21 and 2021–22.
They have already won both their opening matches, beating Samaleswari SC 3-2 before securing a 1-0 away victory over Rajasthan United. They arrive with six points from two games, while Nagaland United have three from their solitary outing.
For NUSC head coach Kaizad Ambapardiwalla, the challenge has been to get a new group of players to speak the same footballing language in a matter of weeks.
“With limited time, it was important to get the players on the same page, understand our style of play and build confidence within the group,” he said after the Srinagar game.
As spirited as Real Kashmir were in that opening encounter, Gokulam Kerala are of a different mettle — two-time I-League champions who know what it takes to win at this level. The hosts will need to match that composure against a side that has made an early impression in the competition.
A victory would take Nagaland United to six points, level with Gokulam, and give the debutants an opportunity to strengthen their position in the early stages of the league. The points will matter; so will the league table.
But Saturday’s significance will extend beyond either. In any sporting culture, a ground does not become home in a single evening; it takes time—matches, familiar voices belting anthems after anthems from the stands, shared disappointments, unexpected victories and, above all, people who keep coming back.
For Nagaland United, the stands may not yet be steeped in memories, but every footballing tradition has to begin somewhere.
For the first time in the IFL, Nagaland’s footballing story will be written on home soil.
And when the players walk out at Chümoukedima on Saturday, they will have something they did not have in Srinagar: their own fans right behind them.
Regardless of Saturday evening’s result, one thing will have happened: at long last, the letter will have reached the people it was always meant for.