What's the story?
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted that he sees India as the next global footballing superpower after witnessing the fast rise of Chinese Super League. The Frenchman was quoted saying, "China has moved forward. It tries to promote football and I’m happy that football has become popular in China. I also expect India to come to the game too you know. I hope it will happen.”
Asian football has come to prominence recently since the financial might of Chinese Super League (CSL) came to the fore. The CSL has been luring players who are in their prime rather who are past it which is worrying the European clubs as no club can compete with the wages that the Chinese clubs are currently offering. Along with China, the Indian Super League is slowly making strides, with the tournament set to become India's prime football league from the next year.
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Wenger was the manager of the Japanese side, Nagoya Grampus back in 1995 when the J-League was launched in 1993. The league, however, failed to grab attention from around the world and could not cope up with the worldwide expectations. Gary Lineker also played in Japan during the last few years of his career.
The heart of the matter
The footballing world has been awestruck with the amount of money that the Chinese Super League is splurging at the moment. The likes of Oscar, Alex Witsel, Ramires and Graziano Pelle have already been playing in the league while the likes of Diego Costa and Alexis Sanchez being targeted in recent weeks.
Wenger, however, issued a warning to CSL and gave an example of the Premier League which the Frenchman stated was created 150 years ago and has thus created a football culture.
He reiterated the fact that the top players want to challenge themselves in the big leagues and also suggested them not to be swayed away by the riches of Asia. The former Monaco boss also sees India as the next destination to emerge as a favourite hub for footballers past their prime to improve the quality of the game in India.
What's next?
With the merger of I-League and ISL on the cards, India will have its own full throttle league which will attract players to ply their trade for an entire year in India. Many players coming to play in the ISL had complained the tournament of being too small in length which made them difficult to commit to their respective clubs. A longer league will do wonders for Indian football which in turn make India a footballing superpower at least in Asia.
Sportskeeda's take
Though Wenger's statements may sound exciting, a long road lies ahead for Indian football to gain importance in Asian football. The merger of two of India's prominent leagues is the right step ahead which will see the cricket crazy nation hopefully shifting focus to the most loved sport in the world.
