The Indian economy has been in trouble recently and this can’t help attempts to build up football in a country where cricket is by far and away the most popular sport. With a seventh I-League season starting, prospects for real progress seem limited.
The Indian economy has been in trouble recently and this can’t help attempts to build up football in a country where cricket is by far and away the most popular sport. With a seventh I-League season starting, prospects for real progress seem limited.
Known as the National League for the first 11 years of its life, Indian football’s top division remains largely Kolkata and Goa-centric and without a team from northern India. The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) has failed to adhere to the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) requirement to professionalise football and managed to bring in Airtel as the title sponsor only a day prior to the start.
Last season’s champion, Churchill Brothers, continues to wait for a big portion of its Rs. 70 lakh prize kitty. The disbandment of the federation’s development side, Pailan Arrows, and the last-minute withdrawal of new corporate entrant Mumbai Tigers added to the mood of gloom.
The 13 participating clubs, which have again failed to fulfil the AFC’s club licensing criteria (apart from Pune FC), have been hit hard by the slowing down of the economy and the knock-on effect of the chit fund scam in Bengal.
United Sports Club, fourth last season, is yet to arrange for finances and started training only around three weeks ago, with players signing in despite not receiving any advance payment.
However, the financial gloom and the fail in the value of the rupee has not stopped the clubs from bringing in about 20 new foreign players, including Trinidad & Tobago World Cupper Cornell Glen (Shillong Lajong), Ireland under-21 international Billy Mehmet (Dempo), Australian international defender Simon Colosimo (Dempo) and Spaniard Arturo Navarro (Sporting Clube de Goa).
With over 90 per cent of the football budget spent on player recruitment, little emphasis is being paid on youth and infrastructure development, keeping football in the country in a constant ad hoc stage.