iSporter Shaji Prabhakaran analyses the developments in infrastructure and facilities for the Indian Football community and the efforts by FIFA and AFC to help Indian clubs to develop new training facilities.
One of the major challenges that Indian football facing today is a lack of adequate infrastructure at all levels of the game. This scenario is seriously hampering the development of beautiful game in India. However, with the intervention of various organizations such as FIFA, AFC, as well as the public and private sector, there is a chance that this situation may change for the better definitely in the long run, if not in immediate future.
It is important to understand that the quality and availability of sports infrastructure has a direct bearing on the quality of preparation and development of professional football teams and potential players. The level of infrastructure is also a deciding factor in determining the capability of a country to host both national as well as international events. Infrastructure is an important aspect in the drive towards fully realizing the commercial potential of a football event as well as capturing the attention and imagination of the fans.
Thus, for a professional league to succeed, clubs would not only require quality stadiums but also quality training infrastructure. Without this a league cannot become a commercially viable product and that ultimately has a negative impact on the overall development of football in this country. Today Indian football is stuck in the middle of a vicious circle of poor infrastructure, poor brand development and poor product, and to get out of this would require serious investment by multiple agencies spread over number of years.
Already FIFA has recognized the gap that exists as far as Infrastructure in India is concerned and therefore, rightly included an element dedicated to that in its ‘Win in India with India’ project. Under this project few artificial training fields will be constructed in next few years time and FIFA has already approved few centres recommended by AIFF. This news comes as a welcome relief for the Indian football fraternity which understands the importance of such upcoming facilities. Asian Football Confederation President Mr. Mohammed Bin Hammam announced in front of an Indian delegation a few weeks ago that AFC will fund training facilities for professional clubs in India. All this indicates a growing interest of FIFA and AFC towards elevating the standard of game in India and helping Indian football to reach its true potential. Clubs in India are thrilled with the news and must be working overtime to ensure required land is available with them to qualify for the AFC offer. Although few may finally be able to avail of this offer as it is a known fact that only few clubs have access to their own land.
India is not the odd one out as far as its clubs are concerned. Infact, worldwide few clubs actually own stadiums, take the example of Europe where 83% of clubs depend upon external agencies such as the municipal department for stadium infrastructure. Therefore, for clubs the most important aspect is to ensure guaranteed access and availability of quality stadiums for their leagues and other activities through an arrangement with the owners of the stadiums, be it private or public.
Though FIFA and AFC are planning to invest in training facilities the question remains as to who is going to invest in the development of quality stadiums in India. For adequate stadium infrastructure to come up in India, it would require a different approach by governing bodies as well as interested private parties. It is understood that government will not invest in new stadiums or on major renovation unless India is going to host mega events such as Commonwealth Games. For Commonwealth Games government has invested more than US $ 2.5 billion, major part of this investment has gone on to stadiums. For example when Qatar hosted Asian Games 2006 it built excellent stadiums for football and the same facility will be used for AFC Asian Cup 2011. But for government, it is not always possible to commit massive investment for hosting mega events like Asian Games or Olympic Games or AFC Asia Cup (Football) considering government commitments and obligations towards other growth targets including social development.
One way out of the vicious circle is the promotion of Public-Private Partnership models which can propel a new beginning in the sports infrastructure sector.
The demand for new stadiums is only going to rise given that sports in general and football in particular is garnering greater attention in India especially because of a growing audience and a changing mindset. In such a scenario it won’t be possible for the government alone to part with substantial resources for sports infrastructure development and definitely it would require massive private funds to flow into this crucial sector. A PPP model would definitely attract corporate interest. Take the case of Mumbai based Sports Company, TransStadia which is investing substantial funds in building the first world class multi-purpose stadium in Ahmedabad under a PPP model with the Government of Gujarat. TransStadia has a UK based technology partner StadiArena, with which it has signed an exclusive licence for patented convertible stadium technology in South Asia. The entry of TransStadia into the Indian sports industry is great news for Indian football since it has plans to come up with 12 stadiums within the next 5 years which might solve some of the major infrastructure problems of Indian football as well as a few other sports.
It is extremely important for all the state governments to have in place PPP friendly policies towards the development of sports infrastructure. Additionally, sports governing bodies will also have to do their bit to speed up the process so that private players like TransStadia get a massive boost towards investing in new stadiums. Another aspect which needs focus is that of the up-keep and management of existing stadiums. In order to fully exploit present stadiums and to generate revenue out of old infrastructure, the government has to partner with private organizations on priority without which government owned stadiums will continue to become dead assets and have a negative impact on the development of football as well as other sports in the country.
Shaji is a well-known football expert, working for the development of Indian football for more than 15 years in different capacity. Born in Kerala, brought up in Bengal and holds best of professional qualifications in sports.
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Kashmira
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... Some very valid points, but I don't entirely buy into the view that poor infrastructure is holding the games development back in India. Many African nations have similar inadequate infrastructue (if not worse) and yet the European game is littered with players from the continent. Have the Africans (with help from other quarters) been more business astute than us Indians! With India's commercial wealth and transferable sports administration know-how gained through Cricket it could be argued that Indian football should at least be on par with one of the African nations! |
a guest
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... I would like to know how much this will effect the current football scenario in Inida considering the point of view of informal sector involved |
nice one sir... hope to see indian clubs be one of da good clubs in the world 
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