Indian football is at a crossroads. The potential for growth is huge and the time is ripe for it to cement a place behind cricket as India’s No.2 sport. Fifa’s decision to award the U-17 World Cup in 2017 is a shot in the arm. India would be staging a global event in football for the first time. The All India Football Federation has a great opportunity to rejuvenate the game on multiple fronts. History is on the side of pessimists because the national federation hasn’t done anything of note in recent times to inspire confidence.
The number of fans —15,000 to 20,000 every day — who watched the league matches of the Federation Cup in a small north Kerala town, Manjeri, is a reminder of football’s latent potential in the country. The game is a hit in every part of the universe and India can’t be an exception.
Here is a wish list to Indian football administrators.
1. Focus on infrastructure. On a war footing. Liaise with state governments to procure land for exclusive football stadiums in major cities. Don’t leave out smaller towns that have a football culture. Public-private partnership is the way forward in an infrastructure overdrive.
2. It’s a pity that the national team doesn’t have a permanent place to train. Foreign coaches can’t believe that a “shining India” has so little to offer for the national team. The AIFF should develop a world-class training centre that can serve all national teams.
3. The national federation has maintained a strategic silence on an important development in the I-League. It hadn’t disclosed the amount Mumbai Tigers had paid to parachute into the I-League. There was no clear statement either from the AIFF on the Mumbai team’s withdrawal without kicking a ball in the top tier. Transparency, any one?
4. Instead of chasing a chimera like the Reliance-IMG league, the AIFF should explore ways to strengthen the I-League. Clubs are making the right noises about getting nothing in return for spending up to '10 crore per season. A league on the lines of the IPL will never click in football because Indian fans are used to watching infinitely better players on TV every week. The franchise model has been successful in cricket because the sport didn’t have a similar tournament. And, football isn’t cricket in India.
5. The I-League lacks a national character. Kerala doesn’t have an I-League club! Every major football state should have at least a team in the league. If logistics becomes a problem for a nation-wide league, a zonal system can be introduced. In Brazil, the league is played on a provincial basis before it becomes a national level competition.
6. Most state associations do little to promote football and infighting is rampant among administrators. The AIFF should crack the whip on errant bodies. The national body has accepted the union sports ministry’s code that restricts tenure and age of its office bearers and the same should be implemented in states as well to bring in fresh blood.
