India may not be playing at the FIFA World Cup yet, but Indians are still making their mark at football’s biggest stage.
One of them is Assam’s Gitika Talukdar.
In 2026, she became the only Indian female photojournalist accredited for the Men’s FIFA World Cup.
It will also be her third consecutive FIFA World Cup assignment after Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
But her journey did not begin inside giant stadiums.
It started with a camera, a love for sport and a dream that travelled from Northeast India to the world stage.
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Who Is Gitika Talukdar?
Gitika Talukdar was born in Arunachal Pradesh and grew up across different Indian cities because of her father’s transferable job. She studied in Kendriya Vidyalayas before eventually building her career in sports journalism and photography.
She later moved to South Korea to study Global Sports Management at Seoul National University. She received a scholarship from the Ministry of Sports and Culture of South Korea and researched gender inequality in sports media during her academic work.
Her career started with a photo news agency while also contributing to local media platforms. Over time, she shifted fully into sports journalism and sports photography.
Today, she has nearly two decades of experience covering international sporting events.
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How She Reached FIFA?
Sports photography is not just about clicking players scoring goals. It is also about capturing reactions, pressure, emotion and moments that disappear within seconds.
That became Gitika’s space.
Over the years, she has covered the FIFA World Cup in Russia and Qatar, the FIFA Women’s World Cups in France, Australia and New Zealand, the Tokyo Olympics, the Paris Olympics, IPL seasons, Commonwealth Games and ICC tournaments.
Her repeated FIFA accreditations stand out because access to these tournaments is highly competitive. Thousands of journalists and photographers apply from across the world for limited media spots.
For the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, FIFA once again selected her as part of the international media coverage team.
She called the recognition a milestone in her sports journalism career and thanked FIFA, the All India Football Federation and the Asian Football Federation for their support.
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Breaking Into A Male-Dominated Space
Sports photography remains heavily male-dominated, especially at global tournaments that demand constant travel, expensive equipment and long working hours.
Gitika’s journey stands out because she entered that space from Northeast India, far from the country’s biggest media centres.
In 2024, the International Olympic Committee directly accredited her to cover the Paris Olympics as part of its initiative to encourage women sports journalists and photographers. She became the first and only female photographer from India to receive that recognition.
She had already covered the Tokyo Olympics earlier, including Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain from Assam, which she described as one of her proudest moments.
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More Than Match Photos
Gitika’s work captures emotion as much as action.
Her photographs document athletes celebrating, fans reacting, teams under pressure and the atmosphere around global sporting events. Reports have noted how her work highlights the human side of sport beyond celebrity moments.
That storytelling style has helped her stand out internationally and reflects how sports media careers are changing for young Indians. In her case, a camera took her from Assam to the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics.
