Onika Maheshwari / New Delhi

The passion for football among Malayalees, the people of Kerala, is very high and in the season of FIFA world cup 2022, the football fever sees people breaking all barriers and norms to enjoy the sport.

One such instance has come from Kochi where 17 football lovers bought a house for Rs 32 lakh, to watch the live telecast of FIFA on their television set together.

The football fans pooled money to buy an old house put up for sale at Mundakkamugal near Kangarapady in Kochi for Rs 23 lakh. The buyers now have plans to set up a permanent place for fans to watch the FIFA world cup at this place.

According to PK Harris, one of the home buyers, no match is enjoyable without loud noise and fun.

It was a few weeks before the start of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and Harris and his friends were looking for an area to screen the World Cup.

Locals join the house owners in watching live telecast of FIFA matches

PWD contractor Harris said, "Most of the open spaces we looked around were either sold or built over." The group consists mostly of fans supporting teams from Argentina, Brazil, Portugal and France. Harris said, "The idea of investing in property is to celebrate every World Cup season.

They decorated the house with the flags of the 32 teams participating in the World Cup in Doha, Qatar; pasted pictures of football stars Lionel Messi and Neymar on the walls.

Then they installed a 50-inch television set and a broadband connection.

The Football Club was open to neighbours.

“Everyone in the area is welcome to watch the match," said Sheefer PA, one of the owners of the house. “The fun of cheering for a team is the best part of the season. It's all friendly banter.”

The tell-tale signs inside the house being of Foorball fans

Out of the 17 friends who own the house, two are working abroad.

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These 17 friends say that "After the World Cup season, we are planning to build a three-storey building. The first and second floors will be rented out to the needy to set up either a shop or anything, and the top floor will be a dedicated space for the screening of the World Cup in the years to come and to establish a sports club-like area for the time to come.