Despite being in apparent freefall and almost no good news to report, Indian football has a massive chance to make the FIFA World Cup Finals.
And no, this is not a fever dream nor have I lost whatever remains of my marbles. Buckle up, this is going to get bumpy!
Admission Time #1
Up front, I here’s my first personal link to Indian football. In 2010/11 I was cooperating with, then, FutFire CEO Shaji Prabakharan in the football sphere, why is that important? Bob Houghton’s time as head coach of The Blue Tigers had some to an end and once more the All India Football Federation (AIFF) needed a silver bullet. Shaji was consulting on the new hire and I proposed something deeper and more consequential. Bring in a team of coaches from Ireland and build top-down, bottom-up. The names of the coaches are at the bottom of the article. Put in place a talent pipeline to get India to a FIFA World Cup in 2022. The men involved each had top level experience as players and coaches. It was to be a “Green Revolution” to put Indian football up where it belongs.
Shaji presented the plan, with full costings and vision, but the AIFF went local with Armando Colaco and then Savio Medeira. Two coaches within a year and only 6 of 19 matches won. And then, inexplicably, the AIFF went to Ireland to get their next boss – but choose a Dutchman who can best be described as an inveterate sporting spoofer. What is a ‘sporting spoofer’? Simple, a person who exaggerates to increase their profile but who is caught out in the end, or is failed upwards/sideways. They almost always get friends in sports media who will defend them aggressively, such is sports. Wim Koevermans is not a bad person or coach, but it took three years as Ireland’s High Performance Director to realise that football isn’t even in the top-3 of Irish sports. After his less than sparkling time with India, he failed upwards to become a coach educator with the Asian Football Confederation. Meanwhile, India trundled along winning, drawing, losing but not really going places. So, why am I confident for success in 2038?
Admission Time #2
My second up front moment is that recent coach Igor Stimac and I worked together in Croatia. I have great time for the man and hoped he would make that step forward for India possible. Yet I knew he was like a flyweight boxer, with both hands tied behind his back, facing prime time Mike Tyson. Igor’s successes were in spite of the structure of Indian football, not because of it. Stephen Constantine, another genuine coach and leader, got India as far as he could. And Manolo Marquez showed that winning lots of matches in the Indian Super League doesn’t translate into triumphant returns for the national team. Yet do I truly believe India will be at the ‘Big Show’ in North America or Oceania? Yes. Yes I do.
Follow the facts
- Football is greater than cricket in some areas of India, so get the first crop from there.
- There are eager partners for Indian football around Asia and in Eastern Europe.
- The money is waiting to grow from grassroots level, there just has to be a believable infrastructure to secure it.
- There are still a few more years of muscle memory to use, ie historical Indian football success.
- Proposed alterations to eligibility laws.
Passport problem
The last point can change in a moment. If India were able to tap into the sizeable diaspora and grab a few lads with Indian Grannies, there would be a ready made side to compete with Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan. Forget struggling against the Maldives, Syria or Bangladesh, India could to tap into players in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Ireland. That, is short-term and also difficult. But it’s a much needed start. Right now, in order to play for India, you must ONLY hold Indian citizenship – dual passport holders need not apply. Why would a UK citizen give up their travel document for an Indian one? Not a single India-eligible player I’ve interviewed or spoken with in the last two decades would even consider it.
History matters
Why am I backing a national team that has a paltry 12 wins in 57 games over 10 World Cup qualifying cycles? Because there was success in the 1940s-60s. There are people who remember those glory days. There are Indians who remember how, in 1960, India put it up to a brilliant Hungary at the Olympics. They narrowly lost to the Mighty Magyars who went on to win a Bronze and who had future Ballon D’Or winner Florian Albert in their side. India were fearless then and held France, with Marcel Artelesa, to a 1-1 draw. Artelesa played at the FIFA World Cup in 1966, won a French League-Cup Double with AS Monaco in 1963. France lost 7-0 to Hungary after that draw with India. In fact, as well as hammering France, Hungary put six goals past Peru in the group stage.
And yes, some will point to losing a Bronze Medal match to Bulgaria in the 1956 Olympics having lost to fellow Eastern European ‘Shamateurs’ (amateur in name only) Yugoslavia in the semi-final. But that, from a pure footballing and sporting point of view was a pointless Olympics, where the top-3 spots were taken by professionals from the USSR, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Those were the days when communist countries didn’t have professional sports, just athletes getting paid to do nothing but train, play and recover. It’s different now and money matters more, but…why will India be at the World Cup Finals in 2038?
Moneymaking machine
Do we believe that should the The Blue Tigers start to roar and mass participation of kids in football kick off, that huge corporations won’t want their logos plastered all over the carnival? If we don’t believe this, then we don’t know the business, economic and political power of sport. As much as I enjoy cricket and it’s place in Indian hearts, indeed souls, it would be bowled over, hit for six and stumped as soon as football takes off.
But will cold hard cash be the driver to the FIFA World Cup Finals in 2038? Of course it will. More money will go to equipping kids and coaches. National teams will have better conditions and confidence will grow in every, single player. Plus, show me an Indian parent who WON’T be thrilled to see their boy on a billboard and them earning proper money. But Indian football is not an island, it needs partners – and they are waiting.
Partner up, buttercup
Here is up front number three, while consulting with the All Russian Football Players Union (ARFPU) and numerous Russian clubs, there was an openness to cooperation with Indian clubs. From the Russian Football Union, I heard in person, a desire to link with the AIFF and Indian regional bodies.
In fact the Russian Student Football Association reached out to the AIFF via the ARFPU and Russian Embassy in Delhi. Can you imagine the leap forward possible for young Indian talents to spend a season training with former UEFA Cup champs Zenit St. Petersburg or CSKA Moscow? Or even with a top regional professional club? Hardening up Indian boys and showing them that they deserve better. Giving them the chance to play at a far higher level than the Indian Super League, which is currently in an existential crisis.
Now realise the business ties that would flourish and thus encouraging point three! It would even help with the balance of trade between the two countries. That’s just one, single example, I personally have two more. Slovakia and Belarus have both expressed a willingness to cooperate with Indian football at diplomatic and federation levels. So is that it?
Batter (cricket) up!
No, we need to go back to basics, to the grass roots. There are parts of India that are football first, life second. Kolkata is still a potential boom town. Kerala, Goa and Mumbai still elevate football to the highest level. Yes, cricket, and increasingly athletics, are major competition – but imagine how easy it would be getting kids in the door by showing the parents the following:
‘Your child can play football and if they excel have a chance to go for an education and professional career, like the vast majority of footballers in Russia, Belarus and Slovakia who have third-level degrees.’
Money + Education + Chance for eternal glory = The Triple Crown of a parent’s (not just Indian) wishes, because we all live vicariously through our kids no matter what we claim.
Long winding road to World Cup ‘glory’
When you add all of this up, my prediction is not so far off the mark. Start the project in 2026, by 2028 you have a large crop of 10-12 year olds in the system. By 2036, this group will have foreign league experience and diaspora players blended in. Eight teams from Asia are guaranteed a spot at the World Cup Finals and one more will get a chance through an intercontinental playoff. The odds are in India’s favour, heavily.
Prior to this, there will be success at continental and global level for Indian youth sides. There will be success for Indian clubs at Asian level. There will be a buzz building up to these qualifiers that will put anything cricket has triggered in the shade. Football will strip sponsor money away from cricket and the IPL. Kids will walk around Mumbai, Delhi and Manipur with football shirts bearing the names of their local heroes. When India play at the World Cup Finals the nation will stop, unite and delight as their men in blue finish third in their group and have the chance to make the knockout stage. As you read this, you can see it. You can feel it. You can taste the excitement. Every football fan knows this is possible, I had become a teen when the Charlton Years arrived in Ireland and just qualifying for a major tournament gave us confidence to believe in better.
There is a long, difficult road to take for Indian football to make this a reality. It is a road that the AIFF are capable of going down. Had they chosen the ‘Green Revolution’, as I titled the proposal in 2011, I am sure that they would be in Saudi Arabia in 2034. However, now is the right time to start and recreate the glory days of Indian football.
P.S. When I make a prediction in sports, I am never wrong. From English calling Premier League winners in October, to predicting the downfall of a reigning English Premier League winner in August. I might be a stopped clock, but those things are right at least twice a day.
P.P.S. The men of the ‘Green Revolution’, I won’t give away their positions in the plan, however here they are. Liam Buckley, Damien Richardson, Aaron Callaghan, John Devine and Martin Russell. It would have been a lot of fun. Lots!