What is Wrong with Indian Football?

There are 210 countries in the FIFA World Ranking. Out of these 210 countries, guess what is India's ranking? --117 You might not feel bad about this 117 ranking. So let me give you 3 examples. Syria, where civil war has been going on for many years, North Korea, which is a full dictatorship. Most of its population is dying of hunger. And Palestine, which many countries don't consider a country. But despite this, these countries have better ranking than India. Recently, India's football team was

eliminated from the Asian Cup. We lost all 3 games without scoring a single goal. Indian media called this campaign disastrous. But Indian football fans have gone through many such moments. You can guess how bad the situation is with this footage. This is the footage from Delhi's best regional league match, which has been accused of match-fixing. But did you know that there was a time when India was called Brazil of the Asian continent? During the 1950s and 60s, India's team was the best in Asi

a. We played till the semifinals of the Olympics. And we won the gold medal twice in the Asian Games. But what happened? How did India's football team become so bad? To find out, I have made this detailed video. If you are a fan of Indian sports and want to know how we can fix this, then do watch this video. Before moving ahead, I want to tell you about something. I recently got makeO toothsi's teeth scan. makeO toothsi is an Indian invisible teeth aligner brand. It fixes crooked teeth. Sometime

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approved. After that, you will be sent customized aligners. Many people have got good results using toothsi's invisible teeth aligners. So if you want to straighten your crooked teeth, there's a link in the description. Book a free teeth scan by makeO toothsi. To understand today's football problems, we need to understand its history. India's relationship with football is not new. It's centuries old. Football was introduced in India during the colonial rule due to the British Army regiments and

Christian missionaries. In the 18th century, India got many football teams. These were teams of local clubs, colleges, and British Army regiments. But all these teams had English players. And Calcutta became the capital of football. Because Calcutta was the capital of British India at that time. All the people playing in Calcutta were English. But one man changed this. He was Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari. He made football popular among the Indians of Calcutta. When he was a young boy, he loved t

o play this game. So he told his classmates to start playing this sport. A professor from Calcutta's Presidency College, G.A. Stacks, saw these boys playing football with a rugby ball. Stacks gave these boys a good ball and explained the basics of the game. These boys then started a club -- the Boys' Club. India's first football club. After this, many colleges in Calcutta, Presidency, Shibpur Engineering, Calcutta Medical, and St. Xavier's also started making their own football teams. In 1888, M

ortimer Durand, the foreign secretary of India, started a tournament for these teams -- Durand Cup. It's the third-oldest football tournament in the world and the oldest in Asia. One year later, a historic club was established. Mohun Bagan. It's even older than the Liverpool and Chelsea football clubs. Four years later, in 1893, the Indian Football Association was established. But this association wasn't about Indian football. It was actually governing Calcutta's football. You might have noticed

that Calcutta was the capital of Indian football. But this was slowly changing. The Indian cities that had a large army, like Ambala, Bangalore, Delhi, Madras, and Hyderabad, saw the spread of football. Because of the British Army, football spread to other parts of India. The British realized that football was becoming popular among Indians. Indian teams also started playing in tournaments where English people played. Then in 1911, there was an incident that made football very popular in India.

That year, Mohun Bagan became the first Indian team to win the IFA Shield. Before 1911, only the British teams had won the IFA Shield. Mohun Bagan defeated the East Yorkshire Regiment in the final. The final was attended by 80,000 people. Mohun Bagan didn't just win a football tournament. Because of this tournament win, a national movement was born. It was a time when there was an anti-colonial sentiment in India. It was like a football's Lagan moment. Because of this win, the British racial su

periority, that they're better than Indians in everything, was shattered. This win had a political impact because it promoted Hindu-Muslim unity. Although Mohun Bagan's most players were Hindus, Muslims celebrated this win equally. After this win, India became a global champion in football! "Seriously?" After Mohun Bagan's win, the British were so scared that they didn't let Indians make a national team. Because they were afraid that if India made a national team, then a nationalist movement cou

ld start in our country. So the British didn't let us make a national team. And the passion of football fans was limited to the local clubs. And the Indian team is still suffering from this loss. I'll tell you more about this later. For many fans, it doesn't matter how the Indian football team is performing. What matters is what happened between Muhan Bagan and East Bengal. In 1937, the All India Football Federation was established. But most football fans still supported their local clubs, and n

ot the national team. Because our national team didn't play that many matches. In 1938, AIFF did send the Indian team to Australia for a match. But the football fans didn't know about it. In this era, the Indian hockey team had won the Olympic gold medal many times. Because of this, almost all the Indian sports fans supported the hockey team. But this was about to change. After independence, a national identity developed around our football team. Our team participated in the 1948 London Olympics

. But in a very close knockout game, India lost to France 2-1. Two years later, India was invited to the 1950 World Cup. There were only 16 teams in the World Cup. India was the only Asian team to be invited. Before India, the invitation was sent to Indonesia and Burma. But both these countries rejected the invitation. Because FIFA didn't recognize Indonesia's Independence from the Netherlands. And Burma didn't have money or facilities for the World Cup. Many of us believe that India wanted to p

lay the World Cup. But FIFA refused because our players played barefoot. But this is not true. In reality, FIFA didn't have any such rules. These rules were introduced in 1953. In fact, even in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, many Indian players played barefoot. The official reason was that the team wasn't selected. And we didn't have much practice time. But the real reasons were different. Some reasons were that it was expensive to travel from India to Brazil. The distance between India and Brazil

was also very long. The players were afraid that they would have to stay on a ship for more than two months. AIFF was supposed to pay Rs. 1 lakh for this trip. But they didn't have that money. Bengal, Maharashtra, and Mysore Football Association somehow managed to pay Rs. 50,000. And the money was arranged. But former player Chuni Goswami believed that the main reason was that India wasn't taking this tournament professionally. Though, according to FIFA's official rules, Indian players could pla

y barefoot, the players realized that they could play better if they wore shoes. But for this, they had to change their training. And no one wanted to do this. Indian authorities also believed that the World Cup didn't matter as much as the Olympics. So why waste time for the World Cup? No matter what the reason was, it was obvious that India lost the opportunity to play in a global event. India's current captain Sunil Chhetri also said that if India had participated in the World Cup, it would h

ave had a huge impact on the country. But despite this disappointment, the 1950s and 1960s were going to be the best period in Indian football history. The credit goes to one man -- Syed Abdul Rahim. He is considered the greatest football coach in India. He was a master strategist. He used creative formations on the field and kept his players motivated off the field. He didn't like the British style of football at the time. The British style involved playing with the ball in the air. This was bo

ring and physical. Syed Abdul Rahim analyzed other European teams, especially the Hungry team from the 1950s. And he said that the game should be played by passing the ball on the ground, not by throwing it in the air. This is what he implemented in the Indian team. In the 1958 World Cup, Brazil made the 4-2-4 system popular. That is, 4 defenders, 2 midfielders and 4 attackers. But before Brazil, Rahim implemented this system in the Indian team. And India became a great football team in Asia. In

1950, Rahim became India's coach. And after a year, India won the gold medal in the Asian Games. Five years later, the Indian football team did something that no other Asian team had done before. They reached the semifinals of the Olympics. At that time, a famous journalist, Lloyd Clarke, told the Hindustan Times that the Indian team is now considered one of the best football teams in the world. So they did a lot of things to make the players who used to play for different clubs to join the nat

ional team. They stopped their players from playing cards and drinking. They believed that this would damage the team's spirit and discipline. If the players wanted to entertain themselves, they studied and discussed the game. You can guess Rahim's influence from this story. 3rd September 1962. The next day, the Asian Games gold medal match between India and South Korea was going to be held in Jakarta. The Indian players were nervous because India lost 2-0 to South Korea in the first match of th

e tournament. To get rid of this nervousness, many Indian players decided to go for a walk at night. They were climbing down the stairs and saw a small light in the dark. One of the greatest football players in India, EK Banerjee said, 'We all stopped and got scared because we thought it was a ghost.' But somehow we got the courage and started climbing down the stairs. When they got down, they saw Syed Abdul Rahim smoking a cigarette. Rahim realized that his players were very nervous. The averag

e age of this team was only 24 years. This team is considered to be one of the greatest football teams in India. Rahim believed in the quality of his players. Usually, Rahim was unemotional. But this time, he said something emotional to his players. 'I want a gift from you.' 'Bring me the gold tomorrow.' The next day, the final match began. The Koreans thought that India would play a 3-5-2 formation. But India surprised them by playing a 4-2-4 formation where defender Jarnail Singh was playing a

s an attacker. In Jakarta, 100,000 people came to watch the final. And all of them were against India. They chanted against the Indian team. They didn't even respect the national anthem. When the ball came to an Indian player, the crowd would be so loud that the referee's whistle couldn't be heard. But the Indian team had very different ideas. Many Indian midfielders were playing on the field. Within 20 minutes, India made a great start. India scored two goals, one of which was scored by Indian

defender Jarnail Singh. South Korea tried hard, but they only scored one goal. India won the Asian Games gold medal for the second time. Abdul Rahim created Asia's best football team. When the Indian team returned to India, they were welcomed warmly. But a few days later, Syed Abdul Rahim was diagnosed with lung cancer. He passed away a year later. Almost everyone believed that after such a success, India would become a global superpower in football. But that didn't happen. The 1960s were the pe

ak of our football team. At that time, the Indian team won more than half the matches. In the 1980s and early 20th century, we couldn't even win one-third of the matches. Forget the gold medal, participating in the Asian Games was a huge achievement. And we were left behind by countries like Korea, Japan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. So what happened? The poor performance of the Indian football team wasn't due to a single reason or a single person. That's why I'm going to trace the development from t

he 1960s till today so that we can understand the full picture of the Indian football team. A major reason was that our football community wasn't aware scientifically. For years, there was evidence in the world that playing barefoot didn't improve performance. But it took us many years to understand this. The style of playing football barefoot started on the football field of Kolkata. This was a way to Indianize the English game. A lot of information was available to prove that shoes are necessa

ry for ball control and good shooting. But despite this, our team played in the 1948 Olympics without shoes. This went on for four years. Then we got a shocking answer in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. It was cold in Helsinki, Finland. There was snow on the ground. India played a match against Yugoslavia. The score was 10-1. One year earlier, India had won the Asian Games gold medal. Now we lost to Yugoslavia 10-1. This defeat was so embarrassing that AIFF had to make its players wear shoes. This s

hows that our football association was waiting for a problem. And then we reacted. This was a problem in our domestic competitions. In our domestic competitions, the matches were 50 minutes long. But the world was playing 90-minute matches. This didn't develop our players' stamina. We got an example of this in the 1956 Olympics semi-final. This time too, India played against Yugoslavia. For 68 minutes, both teams were playing equally. But in the last 22 minutes, the Indian players' stamina was d

epleted. We conceded three goals. And we lost the semi-final. But AIFF hadn't changed our domestic competitions. In fact, this change was brought about in the 1970s, 15 years later, So why didn't AIFF follow a modern and scientific approach? Writer Somashankar Ray says this was because our authorities believed that football was not a professional sport. It's a game. We should treat it like a game. Because of this belief, our football authorities couldn't imagine that if India does well in a glob

al sport like football, what good will it do to our country? Our team started performing well because of Syed Abdul Rahim. But our football authorities became overconfident instead of taking it forward. Indian authorities didn't have a long-term vision. We saw how they changed coaches after Syed Abdul Rahim. After Syed Abdul Rahim, Harry Wright was made India's coach. But he couldn't understand India's philosophy. India lost the 1964 Asia Cup Final because of this, a tournament in which only 4 t

eams played. After Syed Abdul Rahim, India had 40 coaches for the next 40 years. After the 1980s, Indian football teams had many foreign coaches. Our authorities felt that European teams were doing better. So we should bring a European coach. But this didn't solve the problem. Syed Abdul Rahim had said this 70 years ago. He said that Japan and South Korea will be better teams in Asia if we don't produce good coaches. In 1952, he gave an interview to the Indian Express. He said that it's importan

t for us to develop national coaches. But despite Rahim's warning, AIFF didn't take any steps. No program was created to develop good coaches. Instead, AIFF either hired formal players or brought a foreign coach for our team. Let's compare India with Iran. Both were under British influence. Both got their independence at the same time. But Iran focused on developing its coaches from the start. Today, Iran has 139 pro-licensed coaches. To become a pro-licensed coach, you need to clear the highest

qualification for coaching. Iran has 139 and India has 14. This is only 10% of Iran. In Iran, young players are trained by professional coaches. While in India, the coaches don't have any qualifications. So in the 1960s, the problem of coaches started. And in the 1970s, the problem of club vs. country started. Players, coaches, fans, and administrators were not focused on the Indian national team, but the club team. The best example of this was in Calcutta, India's football capital. There were

three clubs in Calcutta. Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, and Mohammadan Sporting. The rivalry of these clubs existed even before independence. But it reached its peak after the partition. After the 1947 partition of India, East Pakistan and West Pakistan were formed. Because of the partition, lakhs of Hindus who lived in East Pakistan came to West Bengal. Many of them started living in Calcutta and its surrounding refugee camps. These people had their own identity. To show this identity, they created

an East Bengal Football Club in 1920. The refugees who came to West Bengal after the partition believed that the society was discriminating against them. They were discriminating against the elite of West Bengal. These elite were people who had been living in Bengal. They were educated and they supported Mohun Bagan. So these two clubs were essential for these two communities. For elite and educated Bengalis, Mohun Bagan was essential. Whereas for those who were refugees from East Pakistan, East

Bengal was important. So when these two football clubs faced each other, it wasn't just a sport game, but it had society, culture, and politics. This rivalry increased after the 1971 India-Pakistan war... ...when Bangladesh was formed and more refugees came to Bengal. Mohun Bagan's fans became more passionate thinking the soldiers of their country were responsible for the refugee's freedom. During the 1970s, this rivalry increased so much that these two clubs gave their players good salaries, b

onuses, and social status. Both the clubs used to compete with each other to find good players. Remember that at this time, many football players didn't even get salaries in other parts of the country. Only Calcutta's clubs were giving salaries and bonuses because it was very important for them to win these matches. Calcutta's clubs were giving so much money but India's federation didn't have money to get the players to play in the national team. That's why many players focused more on their clu

b and not on the country. That's why many players either skipped India's matches or played comfortably so that they didn't get injured. We saw this in 1981. In 1982, Asian Games were going to be held in New Delhi. "The first Asian Games were held in New Delhi." The players were told to start a camp a year in advance to prepare. But because of this camp, the players couldn't play for their clubs which meant that they wouldn't get salaries. So the players told AIFF that they'd lose money and that

they'd come to the camp if they were given money. But AIFF didn't listen to this and many players boycotted the 1981 camp. Later, negotiations started and it was decided that the players would be given Rs. 2000 per month. But this incident showed how the players were constantly thinking about whether to play for the club or the national team. When our team's players were busy fighting, the other teams were making a lot of progress. But despite these problems, AIFF said that they'd make changes f

or the 1982 World Cup. But nothing happened. In fact, not just 1982, but there were 7 World Cups from 1954 to 1982 and India didn't send a team for qualification. Why? Because AIFF believed that the World Cup wasn't as important as the Olympics. AIFF realised its mistake in 1986. But during this time, neither did our players get good international matches nor did football get commercial opportunities because we weren't participating in the world's biggest tournament. In 1986, we did qualify but

things had changed. For example, for the 1958 World Cup, 53 teams got qualified. In 1986, 121 teams got qualified. The new teams were mainly from Asia and Africa. This meant that the Asian teams were more competitive. The Asian teams were trying to qualify but in the final round of the World Cup, only 2 Asian teams could qualify. Later, the number was increased to 4. But the competition for the qualification was very intense. When our country was fighting whether to play for the club or the nati

onal team, countries like Korea and Japan invested a lot in their leagues. For example, Japan started a professional national league with many corporations involved. Saudi Arabia and Iran also invested a lot in coaching and infrastructure. Obviously, economic development was a major reason behind all this. In 1960, India's GDP per capita was around $83 and South Korea's was around $150. 60 years later, India's GDP per capita is around $2,000 and South Korea's is 32,000. Due to the increase in GD

P, countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea, and Japan could invest in football. Private and government investment could have improved our football. But something happened in 1983. Kapil Dev lifted the trophy and the whole country started celebrating. Something coincided with this victory. This was the same time when the TVs were spreading in our country. In 1982, colour television was introduced in the Indian market. The government channel Doordarshan started doing national telecasts. Thi

s moment is memorable for almost all Indians. After this, cricket matches were broadcast on television. Due to this, cricket became popular. The major change came in the 1990s. In 1991, the South African cricket team after suspension, came to India for the first time. South Africa was banned due to their racial policies. But when Nelson Mandela came back to South African politics, India decided to play against South Africa. At that time, BCCI didn't earn money to broadcast matches. Doordarshan e

arned money. BCCI earned money from stadium advertisements and ticket sales. As soon as South Africa announced that they would come to India for a tour, South African management contacted BCCI. They wanted to know the price for purchasing the broadcasting rights. BCCI didn't have any idea that they could sell these rights. They asked the South African board to give $30,000 for the entire series. The South African board gave $40,000 for every match. In 1991, India's economy was liberalised. Many

private channels wanted to broadcast India's next series against England in 1993. BCCI sold rights to France World International for $600,000. By the 21st century, Indian cricket spread everywhere. Not just on TV, you'd see Sachin Tendulkar's name on the hoardings as well. At that time, almost everyone on the streets would tell you the entire line-up of the Indian team. But if you asked them the name of an Indian footballer, only a few would be able to tell you the name of Baicheng Bhutia. All t

he commercial and broadcast interest went to cricket. This isn't surprising. After 1984, the Indian football team didn't qualify for the AFC Asian Cup for 27 years. When Indian fans were watching the Indian cricket team play big matches, Indians didn't get to see their football team play a big match. When India didn't play any big matches, AIFF didn't get any broadcasting revenue. That's why AIFF was either dependent on government funds or on the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA. For compar

ison, in 2022, AIFF's total income was Rs. 80 crores. BCCI's total income was Rs. 4,360 crores. BCCI's income is almost 50 times that of AIFF. Now, many football fans can blame cricket. In 1983, the Indian team won the Cricket World Cup and television was introduced at that time. But AIFF played a major role in the mismanagement of football. It's easy to blame cricket. But AIFF's biggest mistake was that they didn't set up a national league. The question is, what is a national league? A national

league is basically a way to organize football. Take English football for example. There's an English Premier League where the best football clubs in the country play. There are 20 teams in this league and each team plays against each other twice -- home and away. This means each team plays 38 matches every year. After each season, the 3 worst teams of the 20 teams are placed in a different league. Similarly, there are 4 leagues in total. The top 3 teams in the lower league are placed in the ne

xt league. This is called promotion. Because of this promotion and relegation system, every team is under pressure to perform well in every season. The Premier League season starts in August and ends in May. This means that the players play football for 10 months in a row. Countries like Europe and South America created these structures many years ago. Many countries in Asia understood the importance of these structures. For example, Korea's K-League was created in 1983 and Japan created the J-L

eague in 1992. But it took AIFF many years to learn this. AIFF's former general secretary Kushal Das believed that this was the reason for India's poor performance. AIFF created the first national league in 1996 which was called the National Football League. Before that, there was no national league for Indian football players. They played in a regional league in their states. Before this national league, India had 36 state football associations. But only 7 states, like Bengal, Goa, and Kerala h

ad an active state league. There was hardly any state football in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. So the state league football players played only in their states. There were many national cups. But a cup tournament is different from a league tournament. A league runs for 10 months. In a cup tournament, a team doesn't play more than 10 matches. So how can they practice? India started a national football league in 1996. But there were only 12 teams in this league. There was no promotion o

r relegation system. So there was no pressure on players or teams. No matter how bad you play, you'll get a chance next year. If there were only 12 teams, could it even be called a national league? This tournament didn't become popular in the country. This problem worsened in 2001... when ESPN started showing the English Premier League to Indian fans. Where a football fan should've supported their club, our national league was so bad that these same people started supporting English clubs. A sur

vey showed that 38% of Manchester United fans are Indians. In 2007, AIFF tried to change this. They changed the National Football League to I League and introduced two more league systems through which promotion and relegation were possible. But this did not solve the problem. So in 2010, AIFF signed a contract with IMG Reliance so that Indian football receives private money. Private money? That too of Reliance? So all the problems of Indian football will be solved? No. IMG Reliance was given ex

clusive rights to Indian football for 15 years. In return, every year they gave 50 crores to AIFF. But IMG Reliance thought that instead of improving the old league, it would be easier to launch a new league like IPL. So they launched the Indian Super League. Now the clubs of the I-League like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal said that IMG Reliance is launching a new league so what will happen to us? So both the leagues kept fighting each other. This issue didn't get solved for 6 years. Both the leag

ues kept operating together. Finally, in 2019, it was decided that the Indian Super League would be the top league in India followed by the I-League. So if a club in the I-League gets promoted, it will go to the Indian Super League and the worst clubs of the Indian Super League will be relegated to the I-League. But the Indian Super League didn't solve all the problems of Indian football. The first issue was that the ISL had the same problems as the I-League and the NFL. The ISL had only 12 team

s and these teams played only 22 matches from March to September. The head coach of Indian football, Igor Stimac, said that the Indian National League should have a long season for 10-11 months so that the players can practice regularly. And the ISL should have at least 18 teams with promotion and relegation so that every club and player remains under pressure. Now the concept of promotion and relegation has been introduced because now the ISL is the top league and the I-League is below it. But

there aren't many matches for our football players in these leagues. The second issue is that the ISL is not financially sustainable. AIFF had set up a contract with IMG Reliance so that the league can be financially sustainable and get help from private money. But that hasn't been solved. Every ISL club has to pay the subsidiary company of Reliance, FSDL, every year to participate in the ISL. And in return, every club will be given money that the league will earn. For example, the league is bro

adcast on Star Sports. Star Sports gives money to broadcast these matches. And a small portion of this broadcast fee will be given to the clubs. But the ISL clubs are in a loss. They are earning less than what they have to spend. A study has shown that where ISL has collected Rs. 777 crores in franchise fees, their broadcasting revenue is Rs. 540 crores. So, every club is losing Rs. 240 crores. ISL has 12 clubs and only one, Bengaluru FC, is in profit. The debt of all the clubs has increased by

212% in 6 years. Due to financial problems, many clubs like FC Pune City have been shut down. And Delhi Dynamo FC had to be relocated. People supported the launch of the Indian Super League thinking that the clubs will get money. But if the clubs are at a loss and the debt is increasing, what's the use of ISL? When ISL was launched, many big international football stars came to India to play. Like Brazilian star Roberto Carlos and French footballer Nicolas Anel. The same approach was used in Ame

rica. But as soon as these stars came to India, they left. And the quality of football didn't improve which had a direct impact on fan engagement. In the first season of ISL, the average attendance was 26,000. In the latest 2023-24 season, the average attendance is 13,000. The problems in ISL and I-League are also present in other football leagues. Like Santosh League in India where many state teams play. But you can understand the situation from the fact that the Assam Football Association is a

sking for money from its fans so that their team can play in this tournament. Because of ISL, many international football stars started playing in India. Many celebrities also became the owners of football clubs. But ISL forgot that we also have to focus on youth football. In Japan's J-League and Korea's K-League, every club needs to invest in youth teams. This wasn't a requirement in ISL. Because of this, our local talent couldn't develop. This is Gouramangi Singh, a former national-level playe

r for India. He started playing football at the age of 14. While Lionel Messi was 5 and Cristiano Ronaldo was 9 when they started playing football for a team. Many of you may find this to be an extreme comparison. But it actually shows the condition of our youth football team. In every successful country, there's a youth league where 15-18 year olds can play matches regularly. But AIFF didn't develop such a league. Neither is it necessary for ISL clubs to invest in youth teams nor for state foot

ball associations. This is why youth players are asking on Reddit which state club they should play for. For an old club where management is bad? Or for a new club that doesn't give much importance to the under-17 team? While in cricket, there's a lot of focus on youth leagues. BCCI organizes many tournaments and camps for under-14 to under-23 teams. While in 2015, there was no coach for the under-19 team. Even the Indian head coach blamed our youth team for the Asia Cup failure. It's not that t

here are no matches for young players. Subroto Cup is a national-level school football competition. In 2016, 69% of 126 players were disqualified due to age fraud. In 2023, when Sonarpur Dynamic Academy's young players went to Bengaluru for matches, they didn't get mattresses to sleep and they had to cook their own food. The good thing is that AIFF launched a new youth league for under-17 players 2 months ago. More than 50 teams will participate in the league. But we'll only learn with time how

far it succeeds. AIFF has no shortage of politics and financial mismanagement. In 2022, FIFA banned AIFF. Because Praful Patel, who's been in charge of AIFF for 15 years, didn't hold elections on time. So the Supreme Court issued an order against AIFF. FIFA then banned AIFF because according to FIFA's laws a government authority can't be involved in a football association. Pradhyum Reddy, a former Indian footballer, said that football associations have been run by the same people for 20 years. T

hese people are 80 years old and have no knowledge of sports. It's not like AIFF's financial management is doing well. You can guess this from the fact that in the financial year of 2022, AIFF's net loss was Rs. 15 crore. AIFF's auditor himself said that AIFF didn't have a good record to show how much money they should give to state associations. Now let's talk about the most important thing, the solutions. AIFF has announced big plans for the future. In 2034, they want to host World Cup matches

. Then Vision 2047 was launched which said that during our country's 100-year independence, we want to become a football power where 35 million kids will play football by 2026, 10 lakh registered players and 25 million kids will get a football education. There will be a national league with 3 tiers and 40 teams. ISL and I-League will have 14 teams and I-League's second division will have 12 teams. But what did experts say about Vision 2047? In simple language, it's bullshit. Many people suggeste

d a solution to make Indian-origin football players play for our country. For example, Yan Dhanda, who plays for the Scottish Premier League, whose mother is British and whose father is of Indian origin. His highlight reel was shared by Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand. AIFF General Secretary said that he will welcome Yan to play for our country. But if Yan wants to play for our country, he will have to surrender his British passport and take Indian citizenship. But Yan said that if he giv

es up his British passport, he will never be able to play in England and for European leagues. This is because to play for an English or European club, your national team's ranking should be respectable. This is why many Indian football players can't play for foreign clubs because they don't get visas. "Why doesn't this player play for United or Chelsea?" "The law doesn't allow it." "First of all, your country's ranking should be within 70." Instead of giving up his passport, why can't he play f

or India with his OCI card? OCI card is an identity card for NRIs which gives them visa-free access to India. But they can't vote and can't buy agricultural land. Many teams have done the same. Qatar won the Asian Cup in 2023 and only 10 out of 26 players were born in Qatar. Morocco has used the same model. Prakash Amritraj, who wasn't an Indian citizen, represented India in tennis before 2008. There are two problems here. First, it's not the decision of AIFF. It's the decision of the government

or the Supreme Court. In 2008, the Supreme Court decided that only those with Indian passports can play for India. Also, experts said that if we allow players like Yan Danda to represent India, it won't solve the problem. It's a short-term solution. Long-term solution will be when we can develop our own players. It would be easier for me to say that we should spend more money. But if the money grew on trees, it wouldn't just solve football, it would also solve problems like education and health

. I'm talking about three solutions that won't cost much, but will require good execution. First thing is to focus on youth leagues. It is very important for us that not only ISL clubs but also state associations should be told that they have to develop their own youth teams. Second thing is to make a good league structure. The vision of which has been discussed in 2047. There should be three tier leagues. There should be a lot of teams in the leagues. And these teams should play for 10 months.

When there will be such professional leagues, our players' football stamina will also increase and they will get experience. Third thing is that all teams should keep their fans engaged in social media. Whether it is a small school tournament or a football match in the national league. It is very easy to put a phone on a tripod and upload highlights of football matches on Instagram and YouTube. The more content there is, the more fan engagement there will be. And people will know how many opport

unities there are for football. And hopefully, this will help India to become the Brazil of Asia. Check out makeO toothsi's website for invisible teeth aligners. It will straighten your teeth like metal braces. And the good thing is that the aligners are not visible. There is a link in the description where you can download the app. And you can book a free scan by makeO toothsi which is available for a limited time.