The Long Game of Mehrajuddin Wadoo

His playing days are over, but Mehrajuddin Wadoo's fight for fairness, contracts, and dignity has just begun.

- Sajid Bhat

When Mehrajuddin Wadoo walked onto the sunlit grounds of Srinagar as a boy, football was just a way to outrun the weight of life. He wasn't chasing records then. He was chasing freedom.

Now, decades later, that burly boy is the new President of the Football Players Association of India (FPAI), the country’s most powerful footballers’ body. Sunil Chhetri, India’s most celebrated striker, sits beside him as Vice President.

For Wadoo, this is no ceremonial badge. This is another fight. This time, not for minutes on the pitch, but for the rights and future of players across the country.

His story has always been about chasing what seemed distant.

Born in Srinagar to Mohammad Sultan Wadoo, a former Santosh Trophy player, football was stitched into his life early. His father handed him a football when most kids in the neighbourhood clung to cricket bats. The ball never left his side after that. Wadoo spent hours training under his father’s watch, sometimes kicking against walls, sometimes racing against no one.

Kashmir, in the 1990s, was a place of uncertain mornings. Football, for Wadoo, became both an escape and an anchor. His talent outgrew the rough playgrounds quickly, but opportunities were rare.

Still, he kept showing up: training harder, running longer, hitting the ball with more purpose.