Indian football - When will the giant wake up?

An example of poor maintenance at the Nehru Stadium that hosted the Bayern Munich-India friendly match

Indian football – the sleeping giant. What is the use of being a giant if you are sleeping? I would rather choose to be a working ant than a sleeping giant. Now the million dollar question is that, ‘How long will the giant sleep and will he ever wake up?’ FIFA is doing their part quite well, and so is AFC. But unfortunately the domestic association is not so proactive as them.

In my opinion, to give proper shape to a new plan, the 4I’s (Intention, Involvement, Innovation, Integration) are the most essential aspects. The worst part is that the Indian football administration is not practicing any of the 4I’s. Proper planning and implementation are very vital, as no game can show results by itself. It needs proper planning and good investment of ideas. I am trying to point out some problems in Indian football and would like to discuss, and share my point of view regarding the betterment of Indian football.

Let’s start with few basic problems which need to change immediately. Recently I read a case study on the evaluation of the EPL after 1990s. It took around 10 years to change it completely and make the EPL the world’s best football league. Another example is that of the MLS and becoming one of the world’s richer leagues. After 1994 WC, US football federation changed the internal infrastructure of football and made the MLS one of the best marketed football leagues in the world. We can also learn from the rising story of Japan and Korea after late 1980s. Nowadays, even the Far Eastern countries are coming up quite nicely. If we consider all the mentioned leagues, we will find one thing common; the success story of their national team.

Every emerging football playing nation is moving ahead, but the Indian football team is always ranked between 150 to 160, and even sometimes below 160. We need to revamp our entire structure to change the entire current scenario.One of the major problems is the structure of the Indian domestic league. Domestic leagues are the backbone of any football playing nation. Firstly, the Indian domestic league does not follow any fixed calendar. We can see that there are lots of unexpected regional tournaments held, which hamper the scheduling of any club for a season. As a result players or teams have to play too many matches, which hamper their performance graph and the potentiality in long run. According to sports medical science, Indian football players have the capacity to play around 40 to 45 full matches in a season. But some players have to play around 60 to 65 matches in a season. AIFF needs to understand this and formulate a unique and more scientific calendar for an entire season.

The Indian football season starts with the knockout tournament Fed cup, which is a baseless concept. Everywhere in the world the league format is the best option to start a season. After a couple of months’ rest, players need time to reach their peak form. So, the league format is the best to start a new season.

There is also another problem with I-league 2nd division scheduling. An I-league playing team has to play 26 matches throughout the entire season in the I league 1st division and after that 2 teams are relegated. Whereas, in the 2nd division every team has to play almost 18 to 20 matches within 2 to 3 month and only 2 teams are eligible to qualify in main division. According to the current format, the number of matches played by a 2nd division team is equal to approximately 70% matches of any I-league team plays in the 1st division. But only 2 teams can qualify from the 24 to 26 teams and play around 14 to 16 matches. AIFF needs to think and change this format soon to develop and spread the game in India. They should plan to make it as exciting as I league 1st division, and the 2nd division teams can also play throughout the entire season. There are many talented players who play in 2nd division I league teams, but are neglected from the selection of national team due to no scouting, which also need to change and show faith on them.

Another problem is national team’s camps. A month long camp in good infrastructure cannot be the only reason for good performance. Proper planning with the team is very much necessary, and was done by Bob Houghton before. Arranging more friendlies with different standard of teams on FIFA announced dates well in advance and using all of them is very necessary. A complete proper scheduling for the entire season is necessary for the betterment of the national team.

Now Indian football is looking for a coach for their national team. Before recruiting a new coach there is a need to identify the pattern of our game and select coach accordingly. In the recent past when Bob was the coach, national team used the long ball strategy. But we don’t have tall and strong players to play the long ball game. Rather our players are more skillful with average speed. So coaches from Netherland, Hungary, Latin American countries, can be more productive with the national team. So selecting the right coach is the big factor now.

I think not only a coach, but a complete team of staffs for the national team is required. A good head coach, along with two efficient assistance coaches (one being defence specialist), one good foreign physio, and one video analyst is very necessary with the current squad. Apart from having faith only on the national coach, AIFF should appoint four to five regional spotters who will spot the right talents and shortlist them for the final selection. The final team should be selected jointly by the head coach (I rather call him as a TD) and the spotters.

AIFF does not have a complete database of every player playing in AIFF registered tournaments. AIFF should have a complete updated database of every player, so that the selection can be easier for the coaching team.

Recently AIFF have started 8 regional academies with FIFA, which will develop the future generation. Having the U-16 team in Florida for the last 2 years can be helpful to get more developed players in India. We have seen that, our football team is very competitive in world standard under the category ranging from U-12 to U-16. But once they start playing Indian clubs the competitiveness and playing standard deteriorating. We need to send our senior players abroad to give them more exposure. The best example is the Afghanistan football team. They have developed only after sending their players abroad. Playing in the big leagues in big clubs is a complete waste of time due to below standard performance of our current players. Our players need to go to the various average standard european leagues like in Cyprus, Finland, Belgium, Hungary, Norway etc and develop their game from there. AIFF should take initiative in this.

There are a few steps which AIFF needs to start following for the betterment of the national team. We all are Indian football lovers. We want to see our national team in WC or in Asia cup regularly. We also want to see our clubs playing in the AFC champions league. Following the right steps can open the door for our team in the world football arena. We are not lacking the talent, but the vision to channelize those talents in the right way. I think the right use of 4I’s will change the current picture of the game. The day when the giant wakes up will be not far away.