Opinion on Indian Football: Sukhvinder Singh (Libero Sports)

At the Soccerex European Forum last week in Manchester Indian football was well represented with over 20 people there from federations, the government, institutions, agencies and clubs. I spoke to some of these people to get their views on Indian football and will run a series across the week with these very interesting different view points.

I continue the series with the views of Sukhvinder Singh (Libero Sports, MD).


Where do we stand with Indian football today?

Football is certainly not at a desirable level in the country but the writing is on the wall – Football could be the next big industry in India!

This sentiment is exemplified in the series of events in the recent times. While majority of the factors are pro-football at present, we cannot neglect the fact that the foundation needs to be built the right way for effective results. I believe in engaging the critical mass from the 500 million Indians under the age of 25 years to produce not only the players and the technical professionals but also the administrators, marketeers, media professionals, investors, consumers, fans, etc. who shall have a stake in the game's development. This needs to be achieved by taking the sport to the masses rather than the other way round. I am enthused to see a larger participation of the young boys and girls and am energized to see the support that the new generations of parents are ready to provide to their kids.

The transformation cannot happen over a one year period or a decade but would require the efforts of one generation to create a strong population which believes in the goodness of football and is willing to commit to the cause of the beautiful game in our country. If this is achieved, success would follow.