The premise is straightforward: in a country of about 1.1 billion people, there must be at least one who can play a bit, right?

This year a new reality television series begins scouting for footballing talent in India, a land that the show’s organisers believe represents the beautiful game’s “last great frontier”.

The winners of the Soccer Prince competition will be offered apprenticeships with English teams likely to include Liverpool, the current leaders of the Barclays Premier League.

The venture is based on a similar programme aired in China last year, which attracted more than 30,000 14 to 19-year-old contestants, the final episode of which was watched by 130 million viewers.

Three Chinese players were selected and offered year-long contracts with English Premier League clubs – Everton, Bolton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest. Liverpool are understood to be in talks with the show’s creators, Kickworldwide, to offer an Indian player a similar opportunity.

Kickworldwide says it hopes that the competition will kick-start a passion for football in India, a nation besotted with cricket, by encouraging not only players but also coaches, referees and groundsmen.

“The ultimate dream must be that India reaches the 2018 World Cup,” Mary Gopsill, the company’s chief executive, said. “You can’t just plunge into a market like this to make a quick buck. You will fail if you don’t invest for the long term.”

Football’s bean counters have long eyed India and its vast population, half of which is under 25. Most of the country may be grindingly poor, but it hosts the fastest-growing pool of dollar millionaires on the planet (about 125,000 and counting), many of whom revel in conspicuous consumption.

The game already has a useful foothold: more than 60 million Indian viewers tuned in to the Premier League through satellite and cable television last season and 20 million people are estimated to play regularly.

Yesterday, the back page of the Hindustan Times, one of the most widely read newspapers, led with the news of Manchester United’s shock defeat to Derby County and a picture of Cristiano Ronaldo’s wrecked Ferrari.

Indeed, some supporters question whether interest in cricket really does supersede football in India. They point out that when the Indian national team played Japan at football in Calcutta last year 120,000 spectators turned up – three times as many as for a Test match in the same city against South Africa.

In 1950 the Indian football team qualified for the World Cup by default, because all of its opponents pulled out. But the organisers ruled that all players had to wear football boots. Several of the Indian team, who played barefoot, refused – and the team withdrew. It has not come close since.

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