My Opinion on Indian Football's Future

Last week I had run a series on opinions of people involved in Indian football about the future of the beautiful game in India. I had asked them while we all were at the Soccerex European Forum in Manchester on March 28/29 and since then numerous people have been asking me about my own personal opinion on the same topic.

I am an optimist but Indian football is something were one can lose believe. In my involvement in Indian football over the last 14 years, we have seen a number of highs but the equal number of lows. This makes it difficult to say what will happen in the future, but overall Indian football has moved forward over the last decade.

The key elements for Indian football to succeed and grow in the future are professional administration and management, focus on a large scale youth development program, the construction of necessary infrastructure which means not only large stadia but also training facilities.

Further we need a clear-cut system in our club football. Meaning a strong I-League which should grow to 18 to 20 clubs, where all clubs are professional as per the AFC Club Licensing criteria. Below that a structured Division 2, maybe a regional Division 3 inter-linked with the state and city leagues. This way there is a pyramid visible in our club football which also needs to be inter-linked with youth and school football then in India as many kids as possible should play football and the best need to filter through the system to the top.

If these points are followed then we are looking at a bright future...


Here are the links to the different opinions

- Opinion on Indian Football: Sanjiv Saran (Saran Presents)

- Opinion on Indian Football: Yogesh Joshee (Match World)

- Opinion on Indian Football: Ajin Jacob Abraham (Huddersfield Town FC)

- Opinion on Indian Football: Ashok Rajgopal (Football One)

- Opinion on Indian Football: Sukhvinder Singh (Libero Sports)

- Opinion on Indian Football: Dhruv Ratra (Anglian Holdings)