Sevens to Stardom: Rahul KP’s journey from Kerala mud pitches to West Ham

Monsoons in Kerala have arrived early. In his home in Thrissur, Rahul KP wakes up to watch the rain like a 12-year-old boy, smiling.

The downpour intensifies. The leaves look greener, the skies darker.

Unlike a schoolboy, it isn’t the prospect of a holiday that elates him — quite the opposite.

Rahul is to leave for the United States of America in a few days. He will don West Ham United’s jersey at The Soccer Tournament (TST), a seven-a-side competition set to be held between June 4 and 9, becoming the first Indian to do so.

“I belong to a football family where some have represented at higher levels, too. So, my dad and mum spoke to me. They asked, ‘Is it for the Premier League club? Are you crazy?’ I mean, I said, yes, I am,” Rahul tells Sportstar.

TST began in 2023 and has a prize pool of USD 1 million, with the winner taking it all. The 2025 edition features 48 teams divided into 12 groups of four.

West Ham is placed in Group G, which also features La Liga’s Villarreal CF, and two amateur football teams — Brown Ballers FC and Tenfifteen FC — based primarily in the USA.

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The top two teams from each group and the best eight third-placed sides will advance to the knockouts, with the final scheduled on June 9 in North Carolina, USA.

Last year, TST featured legends like Sergio Aguero, Nani and Marco Materazzi, with the first two set to play this year as well.

For Rahul, naturally, it took time to digest the move.

“At Odisha FC, I met the CEO, Raj (Athwal). We always had amazing conversations. One fine day, he just gave me a call and asked whether it was possible for me to meet him. He broke the news, wanted me to believe it,” Rahul says.

“I was like, really? West Ham? You mean the West Ham United? They showed me all the mail. Then the visa got approved, tickets booked, and then, I was like, ‘OK, this is happening!’”

Athwal, who spent nearly two decades at English clubs Coventry City and Watford, moved to India to take up the Chief Executive role at Odisha FC in 2020, and found Rahul a perfect fit for the tournament.

“Largely due to my association with English football, they were initially looking to recruit a player from Asia. So, they were also looking at Japan, Korea and other countries when I spoke to them,” Athwal says.

“I said that he should be the one they should be recruiting, and I made sure that happened. I say this respectfully, he’s a maverick.”

But there are more subplots to the move.

A boy from Kerala (one of India’s surviving football hubs) has made India proud through an avenue the State has always embraced — the Sevens.

“This is something that I’ve grown up with. This is something I dreamt about playing. I wanted to play for a Sevens club,” Rahul says.

“We never dream about playing for clubs like Real Madrid in the beginning. Our dream (initially) is to play for Sevens football (clubs).”

Seven-a-side games, called Sevens Football, are the heart and soul of the sport in Kerala, played on smaller mud pitches for shorter durations, yet attract crowds akin to India playing a cricket match anywhere in the world.

Several of India’s national team players, past and present, have honed their skills through this format, including former skipper I. M. Vijayan.

“People might not watch the Premier League (here), but people know everything about the seven-a-side football and the five-a-side football in Kerala. That’s the most famous thing here,” Rahul adds.

Football runs in the 25-year-old’s blood: his father, Praveen KP, played amateur football, and his grandfather represented Kerala Police, one of the most reputed football teams in the State.

“Some of my relatives, notably P.V. Santhosh, played for Churchill Brothers. I grew up looking up at him,” Rahul adds.

Football runs in the 25-year-old’s blood: his father, Praveen KP (left), played amateur football.
| Photo Credit:
Instagram/Rahul KP

It was no surprise when Rahul was recruited by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) in 2012, which was preparing a squad for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup five years later.

He played every minute in all three matches in the tournament, but his moment to shine came six years later, in 2023, against China.

With India trailing 0-1, Rahul scurried down the right flank, beating the Chinese goalkeeper from a narrow angle to make it all square in their opening match at the Asian Games.

“It was amazing,” says Rahul. “Sadly, we lost the game (1-5), but it’s always nice to put our country somewhere out there — even one goal makes sense.”

Rahul played every minute in all three matches of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017.
| Photo Credit:
Instagram/Rahul KP

“If Sunil Chhetri scores a goal, it’s not just Chhetri as a player, he is a player from India. So, people look at our country as more than just individuals.”

But the Sevens is personal to Rahul, at several levels.

“Growing up, most of our friends and my family members used to play football. We had a football team, Power Depo, in our name, in our family name,” Rahul says.

“As a kid, I used to go with them to all the tournaments, be the ball boy or understand how they prepare for the game. By the time I grew up (to become eligible to play), the team was sold.”

Years later, though it’s not his family’s club he’ll represent, it’s his own country — the hopes of 1.4 billion people.

Rahul will represent the hopes of 1.4 billion people from his own country.
| Photo Credit:
Odisha FC

“In the end, when you wake up, maybe the first thing you ask about is football. Not everyone is this lucky – to make it to the ISL, the national team, now the TST, to play for West Ham. It’s just a blessing from God, a blessing from football itself,” he says.

Rahul, who drew inspiration from Santhosh, now stands in his boots, motivating the next generation.

“I have already started getting a lot of messages from young kids who are just 12 or 13 (years old). Some are even eight,” Rahul says.

“They gather outside my home, saying, ‘You’re going to West Ham. One day, I’ll do that too.’”