It is said that football is a poor man’s game, because all you need is a ball to kick around. But professional football can cost millions. Yet, financial constraints haven’t stopped Preetam Mahadik from making his club, Mumbai Knights, the undisputed queens of Mumbai football.

Small home where it started

Operating from a tiny 10-foot-by-eight-foot room in Bandra’s Pali area, which his family has called home for over four decades, and despite a budget where expenditure overtakes income, Mumbai Knights’s club-owner-cum-coach Mahadik has led two of his three teams to the Mumbai Football Association women’s titles — Sub-junior (U-13) and Senior — this season, while the Junior (U-15) team finished second on goal difference.