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The Indian Dream: Why A Competetive League Is Fundamental To India's World Cup Dream?
Expert talk...
06-Jul-2010 7:24:00 AM
India is truly and madly behind the greatest sporting spectacle ‘World Cup’ which is underway in South Africa but unfortunately cricket crazy India is consistently failing to be part of this most incredible sports show on earth, and that is the hard reality which hurts majority of football loving Indians after every four years during this time. That leads to obvious question in the minds of Indians, ‘why India never made it to the World Cup’?
Many must be wondering why the second most populated nation in the world is repeatedly unsuccessful internationally when India in the past has achieved few important triumphs in 1950s and 60s at International level. No doubt India was a competitive team till early 70s but thereafter many nations in Asia started concentrating on developing a competitive structure and organization to scale up its performance and operations.
At the same time India did not go for any changes and by the time realization of this gigantic slip came to Indian football, the gap became enormous between India and the best in Asian continent. Further many teams in Asia by adopting best practices have become highly competitive and that has made qualification to World Cup even tougher for countries like India.
The other fact is that the 20th ranked team in Asia has to compete with other 46 countries for qualifying for the World Cup where Asia technically has only 4.5 slots if I may say so.
But whatever the circumstances are with Indian or Asian football, it does not mean that India will never qualify for World Cup. India can definitely become one of the top football playing nations considering existence of many positive factors conducive to develop football in the second fastest growing economy of the world.
For Indian football, the top priority should be to develop a highly competitive professional league in next few years time. Establishing such a league means finding solutions to all problems faced by Indian football today. The important fact is that for players to realize their true potential in football they not only need right training and support but also require precise competitive format. The examples are there for everyone to see how a cutthroat league contributes positively in the multi-dimensional growth of the game.
Latest data from World Cup 2010 indicates that maximum players representing different teams are from best leagues (EPL, Spanish League, Italian, Bundesliga, French, etc). When it comes to Asian teams then again the best league in Asia, J-league contributes maximum players to the World Cup. The learning here is simple and straight that to gain top competitive form and to compete at the highest level, participation in a top notch league is a must. Therefore, players from India too have to be a part of similar type of leagues to gain much needed competitiveness.
It won’t be difficult for India to establish such a competition format and attract the attention of the world but the crucial aspect for the success of such league would be based on the involvement of all stakeholders of the game from planning to the implementation phase. It definitely can’t happen overnight but the process can be initiated based on a well thought-out long term plan.
Not to forget that India has a mediocre club culture in few parts of India with a decent fan following. For any league to have a jump start it is necessary to have an adequate number of well managed professional clubs spread over country and therefore, without creating investment friendly environment for clubs a good league cannot take off. Clubs are the major pillars of football and there are no substitutes to professionally managed clubs in football.
Point to be reiterated here is that good clubs will form the backbone for a market oriented league and of course, they would have the potency to attract good players from abroad which is not the case today.
India need not to reinvent the wheel to set a robust competitive structure since other countries have successfully done it. Take for example Japan, who started the restructuring process in the late 80s and established J-league in 1993 with a professional structure, definite goals and vision. With that investment in a newly branded league and overhauling the existing structure, Japan successfully qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1998 and then fruitfully co-hosted the biggest sporting extravaganza in 2002. In South Africa, it is Japan’s fourth consecutive participation in World Cup finals. Hence, India should get motivated by Japan and adopt much required professionalism in the system to achieve similar success.
India, with a growing population, will only improve its affinity towards the beautiful game and the new generation would not like their country to be inferior in any walk of life including football. The situation is challenging but not impossible for Indian football to deliver. Thus, it is imperative for Indian football establishment to create the much needed competitive structure at highest level which will have positive impact on the entire pyramid of football in the nation.
The foundation has to be laid as early as possible to make India one of the top contenders to qualify from Asia and predicting any year doesn’t seem to be a safe option at present but if the expected structure and system are put in place in the next few years, then by 2030 India is likely to qualify for World Cup. Good luck India………
Many must be wondering why the second most populated nation in the world is repeatedly unsuccessful internationally when India in the past has achieved few important triumphs in 1950s and 60s at International level. No doubt India was a competitive team till early 70s but thereafter many nations in Asia started concentrating on developing a competitive structure and organization to scale up its performance and operations.
At the same time India did not go for any changes and by the time realization of this gigantic slip came to Indian football, the gap became enormous between India and the best in Asian continent. Further many teams in Asia by adopting best practices have become highly competitive and that has made qualification to World Cup even tougher for countries like India.
The other fact is that the 20th ranked team in Asia has to compete with other 46 countries for qualifying for the World Cup where Asia technically has only 4.5 slots if I may say so.
But whatever the circumstances are with Indian or Asian football, it does not mean that India will never qualify for World Cup. India can definitely become one of the top football playing nations considering existence of many positive factors conducive to develop football in the second fastest growing economy of the world.
For Indian football, the top priority should be to develop a highly competitive professional league in next few years time. Establishing such a league means finding solutions to all problems faced by Indian football today. The important fact is that for players to realize their true potential in football they not only need right training and support but also require precise competitive format. The examples are there for everyone to see how a cutthroat league contributes positively in the multi-dimensional growth of the game.
Latest data from World Cup 2010 indicates that maximum players representing different teams are from best leagues (EPL, Spanish League, Italian, Bundesliga, French, etc). When it comes to Asian teams then again the best league in Asia, J-league contributes maximum players to the World Cup. The learning here is simple and straight that to gain top competitive form and to compete at the highest level, participation in a top notch league is a must. Therefore, players from India too have to be a part of similar type of leagues to gain much needed competitiveness.
It won’t be difficult for India to establish such a competition format and attract the attention of the world but the crucial aspect for the success of such league would be based on the involvement of all stakeholders of the game from planning to the implementation phase. It definitely can’t happen overnight but the process can be initiated based on a well thought-out long term plan.
Not to forget that India has a mediocre club culture in few parts of India with a decent fan following. For any league to have a jump start it is necessary to have an adequate number of well managed professional clubs spread over country and therefore, without creating investment friendly environment for clubs a good league cannot take off. Clubs are the major pillars of football and there are no substitutes to professionally managed clubs in football.
Point to be reiterated here is that good clubs will form the backbone for a market oriented league and of course, they would have the potency to attract good players from abroad which is not the case today.
India need not to reinvent the wheel to set a robust competitive structure since other countries have successfully done it. Take for example Japan, who started the restructuring process in the late 80s and established J-league in 1993 with a professional structure, definite goals and vision. With that investment in a newly branded league and overhauling the existing structure, Japan successfully qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1998 and then fruitfully co-hosted the biggest sporting extravaganza in 2002. In South Africa, it is Japan’s fourth consecutive participation in World Cup finals. Hence, India should get motivated by Japan and adopt much required professionalism in the system to achieve similar success.
India, with a growing population, will only improve its affinity towards the beautiful game and the new generation would not like their country to be inferior in any walk of life including football. The situation is challenging but not impossible for Indian football to deliver. Thus, it is imperative for Indian football establishment to create the much needed competitive structure at highest level which will have positive impact on the entire pyramid of football in the nation.
The foundation has to be laid as early as possible to make India one of the top contenders to qualify from Asia and predicting any year doesn’t seem to be a safe option at present but if the expected structure and system are put in place in the next few years, then by 2030 India is likely to qualify for World Cup. Good luck India………
Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran
(Associate Vice President – Sports Business, TransStadia Pvt Ltd)
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