More and more every season, the English Premier League has become the world’s Premier League, entertaining billions of fans across the globe.

People all around the world tune in at all times of the day to watch their favourite teams, from the United States to the United Kingdom, Austria to Australia and Ireland to India, global viewing figures have never been higher.

Clubs, players and even the league itself are aware of this worldwide love for English top-flight football, and have warmly embraced it and looked to build their brands globally.

Just last year, the Premier League launched official Instagram and Twitter accounts specifically aimed at their fans in India.

The appetite for Premier League football in India is massive, and it’s not just the big four or big six clubs that are gaining popularity, but clubs of every size.

Some supporters have taken teams like Watford into their hearts, waking up late at night or early in the morning to watch a team thousands of miles away and give them the same amount of support as someone that lives in the shadow of the stadium.

Watford defender Adrian Mariappa is English-born but of Fijian and Jamaican descent and has seen just how much his boyhood club has grown worldwide in the past few years.

“I’ve seen Watford go from a predominantly locally supported team to having supporters from all around the world,” Mariappa explained.

“It’s great to know that there are people across the globe tuning in at all hours to support us. All of the love and support is appreciated at all times.”

Football is becoming bigger and bigger in India, and is even competing with the country’s national sport, cricket for the hearts and minds of sports fans.

The online presence of teams like Watford, the Premier League and even the players themselves is helping it grow as English-based footballers become household names in the country.

“Football is the fastest growing sport in the country but still far behind cricket,” said Indian sports marketing expert, Ashish Rana.

“Football is becoming increasingly popular especially among teenagers and the club you follow is considered as a part of your style and personality. The popularity has increased at a fast pace in recent years.”

Many fans start off by supporting players rather than clubs, seeing who excites them on the football pitch with their silky skills or even with defensive abilities.

When these players move clubs, those fans follow the players, taking a new team into their hearts.

“Indian fans are likely to support their favourite player and hence their club. The ones who are supporting the clubs mainly are fans of few big clubs,” Rana said.

“One reason can be that the fans support lower clubs is that they are following their favourite players who maybe moved to lower ranked clubs.

“Or maybe just some good action or news by a lower ranked club can do the trick.”

This latter point is how Indian superfan Udipt Kukreti became a Watford supporter and now takes in all their games on television, no matter what time of the day or night they are televised,

“In 2016, I was part of a tournament organised in India and got to closely work with Watford’s reserve team which was one of the participants,” Kukreti recalls.

“Later that year, the youth academy manager even invited me to a Premier League game at Vicarage Road.”

Kukreti is the only Watford fan in his house, so he watches a lot of games alone late at night, but the club’s online community has helped him form relationships with supporters from other countries.

“I have a friend who follows Watford too. He came to London with me for the game - from Dubai!”

Mariappa says that meeting all these fans from all over the world is one of his favourite parts of being a footballer, and that he is extremely grateful for the lengths that Watford’s supporters go to just to see their favourite players and favourite team up close.

“I know one of our loyal fans from China flew over for the cup final for less than 24 hours. I’ve thanked him personally as that is some real commitment,” Mariappa said.

“I love meeting fans from different parts of the world. It shows me how much the club has grown in recent times.”

Mariappa’s own background is extremely important to him, having lined out at international level for the country of his grandparents, Jamaica. But he also has Indian roots and that is something that he would love to explore in future:

“India is definitely on my list to visit. I have roots from India from my Fijian side of the family that I’ll try to trace back one day.”

With Watford and other teams reaching out into these communities to engage with their international fans, more and more players will be able to visit faraway places like India, not only for personal reasons, but as an enjoyable and exciting part of their job.

The Premier League is continuing to grow bigger and bigger, with more and more teams realising that they too must engage with overseas fans.

Teams will look to Watford as an example to follow, especially given the success stories that they have had in winning new fans in India, like with now hardcore supporter Udipt Kukreti, who counts the Hornets’ win over Liverpool as one of his favourite memories: “Liverpool at that moment were an unstoppable force. Everyone had written off Watford to even take a point from that game.

“And they went on to dominate Liverpool. But to win was amazing. I cannot really express the feeling.”