Indian Football Still Has Miles to Go

Indian football is on the verge of a new development. After winning its first ever Nehru Cup recently, the team is on the seventh heaven and the upcoming World Cup qualifier has been brought alive by the recent success of the Indian team. India after getting a recent jump in the Federation Inerternationale de Football Association (FIFA) rankings reached 145 place (Highest in past few years). But the big question is- "Can we on the basis of India's recent feats bet on India's qualification for the 2020 Olympics?"



The answer would be a definite 'No' if we go by the opinion of the Indian football coach, Bob Houghton.. India has to play its qualifier against Lebanon on October 8 in Lebanon and then in India on October 20. Bob Houghton said, “India needs a lot of development in terms of infrastructure, as we do not have world class facilities required to develop a team, which can make it to the best in Asia. The three things which are most important in order to make a good team are, better coaches at the junior level, better infrastructure and more exposure at the international level.” Houghton said that success does not have any shortcuts and will come with consistent hard work.



The Indian coach who has had a successful stint with the team till now considers that it would not be enough to provide good facilities at the senior level only, rather Indian football needs to have good coaches and better facilities at the junior level also . It will help the budding young players to learn the nuances of the game earlier. Appreciating the talent pool in the country Bob said, “one thing must be said that even the most ardent fans would not have believed that we would be able to win the ONGC Nehru cup, but the team proved that it has enough talent. The need is to groom the talent in the country.”



Speaking to Headlines India on the overall condition of Indian football, Indian captain Baichung Bhutia said that though team has played brilliantly to win the ONGC Nehru cup, India as a team still needs to put in their best to do well against Lebanon. Baichung said, “Indian team has the potential to be one of the teams from the Asian continent to qualify for the World Cup, but there needs to be a strong domestic system through which youngsters can come up to play for India. Right now there are only a few states where football is popular in India, which needs to be changed to build a good team in future.”



In the decades of 50's and 60's, Indian football was in its golden era when it not only won two gold medals in Asian Games, but also finished fourth in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. But after that, the graph of the team's success has been going south, and now, leave alone qualifying for the Olympics, India has been finding it hard even to compete with their Asian counterparts. Novy Kapadia, football expert, agrees with Baichung's stand and says, “Football in India has been limited to rivalry between the handful of clubs in West Bengal. We have been unable to take the advantage of our vast population and the talent which is available in this vast country.



Adding further he says, "Indian football needs strong associations at the state level and revamp the structure at the junior level, so that more and more tournaments could be played in different states. More tournaments will help to make the game popular in the country.” Infrastructure and coaching standards will also have to be improved in the country as most of the football stadiums are not up to the international standards, Kapadia adds further.



Though India has not always been a great football playing nation in the past few decades, but the efforts should be made constantly to improve its standard, rather than just sit back and let things go the way they are going. All India Football Federation (AIFF) has taken new strides in that direction, ever since Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi has taken over as the President of the federation, but the efforts to revive football has to be consistent and long term.



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