MUMBAI: Coming October, for the first time in the history of football, the official team India jersey will be part of the FIFA merchandise. As India has never played any FIFA tournament, the team jersey has never been a part of a global celebration of the beautiful game.However, as India is gearing up to host the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in October, and the Indian team is also going to test its mettle, the football's governing authority has also included the Indian jersey as part of the official merchandise."Merchandise is something FIFA does centrally from Zurich. Therefore, when we came to know that an Indian company, Dream Theatre , has the rights for the next World Cup in Russia, we were also very keen on Under-17 World Cup," Joy Bhattacharjya , project director, LOC, FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017, told ET. "For us, we do not look at it as much a financial opportunity. But, for every fan who wears that t-shirt is like a word of mouth for the tournament, and Indian football, which is really important. We are all invested in making this tournament really successful because this is what will make Indian football big."For Dream Theatre also, FIFA 2014 was the starting point for its journey in the sport licensing business, which is fairly at a nascent stage in India. While globally, sports licensing business was valued at $27.6 billion in 2015 and projected to reach $48.2 billion by 2024, India's sports licensing business is currently at $30 million, at best.But the company had rolled out a fairly strong programme across apparel, bags and watches. "FIFA 2014 saw massive presence across apparel, bags and watches, toting up close to `16 crore of sales at retail," said Jiggy George, CEO, Dream Theatre.