Former French International defender Mikael Silvestre has said that Indian football is growing quickly, dwelling on his experiences while playing in the inaugural edition of the Indian Super League (ISL) for Chennaiyin FC.
Mikael Silvestre, who enjoyed a trophy-laden spell of nine years at Manchester Untied before moving to Arsenal in 2008, elucidated on his Indian adventure, "Playing in India for Chennaiyin FC was a very enjoyable experience as the country has a fast-growing football scene. In addition to being the defensive partner of player-manager Marco Materazzi, I did a lot of Italian-to-English translation for my Indian teammates at the club."
FIFA Ranking: India drop to 132nd place
Silvestre was speaking to sc.qa during a visit to the offices of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), who are in charge of delivering the stadiums, infrastructure and legacy for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar.
Silvestre wound up his playing career at Chennaiyin FC after they reached the semifinals of the IMG-Reliance owned league, where he was managed by Italian World Cup winner Marco Materazzi. The Frenchman also opened up on his relation with Materazzi who left the South Indian club recently.
Materazzi leaves Chennaiyin FC
"The incident between Marco and ‘Zizou’ in the 2006 World Cup final was unfortunate, but despite that I was able to have a great relationship with Marco in India. This shows that football is bigger than politics and war,” he said.
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)
