Is AIFF TD Rob Baan correct in criticizing Indian football?

Dutchman Robert 'Rob' Baan was very critical about Indian football at the FICCI GOAL 2013 convention on Friday morning, which was widely covered by the national media and surprisingly raised a few eyebrows.

If Rob Baan's statements come as a surprise to you, then these only remind me of want our former national coach Bob Houghton said about the state of Indian football in Qatar at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. This wasn't to the liking of AIFF officials, which in the end led to Bob having to leave.

I personally felt that morning that 69 year old Rob Baan is getting frustrated with the system or lack of system within Indian football. He had been brought in to prepare a roadmap which he did and has been titled 'Lakshya 2022', but there seems to be lack of funding and will to implement the very basics for improvement within Indian football.

Amongst other things Baan said about Lakshya's funding problem, "IMG-Reliance says that they are not able to generate funds but I say, if the plan is good, funds will come."

Going on he said, "There is no national team training centre, no elite academies, no budget as far as implementing the Lakshya 2022 project is concerned."

And further disgust about the situation came out when Rob Baan and later on Director of Regional Academies Scott O'Donell spoke about age cheating in the AIFF Football Festival, which is intended to be the scouting platform for young Indian talent for the AIFF Regional Academies besides an Under-12 Elite Academy, which could be the core team for the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, if India is given the right to host it.

We all know that all is not good within Indian football, but as things stand today we can only hope it gets better in the years to come...

AIFF TD Baan to conduct Workshop for Coaches

The All India Football Federation would be organising a Coaches Workshop from April 13 - 15, 2012 in New Delhi. The Workshop would be conducted by AIFF Technical Director Rob Baan and Scott O'Donell, the Technical Manager for Regional and Elite Academies.


The timings for the practical sessions which would be conducted at the Ambedkar Stadium stay as follows:

Friday – April 13: 3 pm to 6 pm

Saturday – April 14: 9 am to 12.30 pm and 3 pm to 6 pm

Sunday – April 15: 9 am to 12.30 pm


The list of the coaches stay as follows:

Thangboi Singto (Meghalaya), Raman Vijayan (Tamil Nadu), Satheevan Balan, Narayana Menon (both Kerala), Stanley Rozario (Karnataka), Subrata Bhattacharya, Satyabrata Bhowmick, Mridul Kanti Banerjee, Ranjan Bhattacharya (all West Bengal), Anadi Barua (Delhi), Santanu Basu, Bidhan Das (both Assam), Keshav Dutt (Haryana)

Besides the Indian coaches, Arthur Pappas from Australia will also be attending the Workshop.

Rob Baan: Within 10 years, India will compete against the Best in Asia!

The new technical director of the All India Football Federation Robert 'Rob' Baan has a tough mission at hand- The only question is, if Baan understands the task at hand then taking Indian football forward is a monumental assignment with all its given problems besides the massive opportunities. But he has been open when talking about his role, plans, challenges and much more...


What made you take up the Challenge of being the Technical Director of India?

I'm still too young to sit on the couch and the challenge of bringing the overall standard of Indian football to a higher level prompted me to travel to India.

Did you have any prior idea about Indian football - Club or National level?

Not really till recently when I was invited by the Qatar Football Association to make a report and watched Qatar's 2012 Olympic Qualification match against India Under-23 in Doha in July.

What will be your prime task as the Technical Director of Indian football and what will be the key areas that you will look into for the development of the game - especially at the grassroots?

We will start with establishing of the Regional Academies (for age-group 14 to 16) and Elite Centers (for age-group 16-18) where we can bring the best talents together. With our Technical Staff, we will travel around and get a first-hand impression about Indian football at all levels. After that we will focus on grassroot and organise and establish a pathway for our talents.

How different will the challenge be from your Australian experience?

It'll be a big difference for simple reason that Australia stay far ahead of India in terms of infrastructure, facilities, organisation and vision. They have also started with a Masterplan, a Curriculum and the National Youth Development Plan. During my time at the FFA (Football Federation Australia) we started with the implementation of small-sided games all over the country; a structured talent identification plan and the vision of how to play and train. The FFA also did start a National Youth League and a National Women's League along with the National Coach Education Plan.

Will be you holding regular meetings with the coaches and officials of the respective I-League clubs?

I will co-ordinate mainly with the Coaches. I will also be co-ordinating with the General Secretary of the AIFF and other staff and maybe, club officials as and when necessary.

The Dutch football system is one of the very best in the world. Can you tell us what separates it from the rest and what will you be looking to implement in India?

This is hard to answer in a short time. In principle we must learn from all countries who are successful footballing Nations and implement some of their ideas. But it must lead to a typical 'Índian Style of Play.'

The biggest debate in Indian football stays as to whether we should appoint a Foreign or an Indian Coach. What is your take on this?

We need to have someone who suits the Indian mentality. I think that coaches of the stature of Capello, Mourinho or Guardiola are not suitable (besides financial terms) for Indian football at this time. In general I'd rather go in for a Foreign Coach who has vast knowledge about Asian Football. He needs to educate his assistants who should be taking over later.

If you look at Australia, you'll find it was Pim Verbeek (Dutch) who made them qualify for South Africa 2010 and after he left, German Coach Holger Osieck took over. The sole difference stays that all his assistants are now Australian Coaches, while Pim Verbeek worked with a Dutch assistant. But it's too premature for me to comment anything on the quality of Indian coaches.

How confident are you of making a significant change?

AIFF has now started a vision which will improve the rankings in the next 4 years. The focus is now on Youth Development. Within the next 10 years, boys from the age-group of 8-12 will take India to a level where India will be able to compete against Australia, Korea or Japan.

New Technical Director Rob Baan has tough job on hand

Today, November 1 Dutchman Robert 'Rob' Baan officially takes over as the technical director of the All India Football Federation. The 68 year Baan, who was born in Rotterdam, has a tough job on hand to organise and structure Indian football; but also give it a long-term vision so that India can move to be amongst the stronger sides in Asian football.

Baan brings with him over 45 years experience as a coach and technical director with him having worked at home in the Netherlands, the UAE and Australia; but not everywhere they have been convinced by his work. Especially in Australia there have been critical voices about his tenure as Technical Director of the FFA. But India will be a new frontier for him and he will have to work hard to improve Indian football.

"I'd like to introduce Indian football to a new vision so that it becomes a respected football nation in Asia as well as the world. This assignment is a new challenge for me - the challenge to assist and develop football in India and take it to a higher level," Baan said.

"My primary role is to write a master plan and a curriculum for National Youth Development and to assist in establishing the Elite Academy and the Regional Academies all over the country," stated Baan.

"From the moment I join I will do my best to gather all the necessary information and I can only do that when I land in India. Obviously I will travel to watch I-League matches and talk to coaches to gain first-hand practical knowledge," Baan added.

Baan understands that India is a vast country and only team work can bring success. "I cannot do it on my own. It's a team game and I'd need the help of all stakeholders to create the right structure. We need to chalk out and implement realistic plans as that will be the base for future success."

An issue raised again and again is the short stature of Indian footballers and on this Baan has said, "“Well, we cannot change that. But the game is not entirely about big-bodied players. Ghana, for example, also have some short-statured players but they did make it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in South Africa."

Another topic which comes up for discussion when talking about Indian football is infrastructure. On this Baan said, "It's useless thinking about it and sitting idle as we have to cope up with the present situation. The scenario just cannot be changed in a short term. As long as it is being addressed in the long run, it's OK. We need to improvise."

Baan has a lot of work on his plate. And one can only hope in the interest of Indian football that he is able to deliver. All the best Rob!!!