Indian football is expected to make a huge leap forward in this decade considering the progress it has made in last few years. The consistent success of senior team under Bob Houghton since 2007 has given ample indication and confidence to fans that Indian football has a far better future in the years to come. iSporter Shaji Prabhakaran talks about the journey.
The highlight of the last decade was Team India qualifying to the Asian Cup 2011 for the first time after 1984 and the success has only strengthened the belief that India has a huge potential to succeed at international arena. Further the victory at SAFF Championship with its B team in Bangladesh painted the fact that India has a good talent pool. Lately it is not only success on the field but also success off the field paint far greater optimistic picture of Indian football. AIFF President, Praful Patel since taking over is highly successful in attracting substantial funds towards Indian football. Interesting fact is that Mr. Patel was able to attract funds from most unlikely source like, BCCI. The entry of Panasonic reflects the mood of market towards Indian football under the dynamic leadership of Mr. Patel.
The big test for India would be at AFC Asian Cup 2011 in Qatar, where India will be competing with best in Asia. Last decade whenever India played with Asian giants, the results were not that encouraging. Therefore, Asian Cup gives perfect opportunity to India in analyzing how far India has progressed in last few years. Lately, Team India is boosted with unprecedented funding for its preparation and team is expected to prepare in the best manner to perform optimally at Asian Cup. Though there may be high expectation for team to perform but at the end if the team only manages to qualify for the next round then also it should be judged as a great step forward for Team India.
Finally, it is known and expected, team would perform to its potential but what is important for Indian football, is to display a performance of high hope both on and off the field around Asian Cup. In other words, Indian football should be able to showcase its future potential to the world and fans at large before, during and after the Asian Cup.
Though our national team has won important trophies in recent past and moving in the right direction but aspiration of nation is to see India in the World Cup. When 32 nations compete in South Africa 2010 World Cup every football fan from India would have a question, why India is not there?
At that time there would be million questions and answers from different quarters. Important to understand here is that football is extremely competitive worldwide and at present from Asia there are only 4 slots for World Cup. This time teams like Iran and Saudi Arabia have failed to qualify, that shows how competitive football has become in Asia too. India definitely has a potential to be in the World Cup but it all depends, how faster we make our football highly competitive and reach nearer to Asian standard. To achieve this landmark goal there has to be a multi-pronged long term strategy, which should be spelled out in public to engage and attract support of all stakeholders towards this crucial goal.
Indian football is all likely to achieve many milestones in this decade and by the end of this decade India should be able to establish itself as one of the best football playing nation in Asia. It should continue to expand and focus on development work, and strategically address all challenges to position India amongst high growth market for world of football.
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... Should British Indian footballers that have not quite cut the grade with English professional league teams after years of benefiting from academy coaching explore opportunities in India? |
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