Once optimistically labeled a “sleeping giant” of football by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the sport in India is now mired in a fresh and severe crisis, battling significant challenges from top-tier administration down to grassroots development.
The men’s national team currently stands without a head coach, and the Indian Super League (ISL), the nation’s premier football competition, is in precarious danger of collapsing due to an unresolved dispute between the national federation and its commercial partner.
“Everybody in the Indian football ecosystem is worried, hurt, scared about the uncertainty we are faced with,” wrote Sunil Chhetri, the celebrated veteran striker and former national skipper, on X (formerly Twitter), expressing his concern over the ISL’s uncertain fate.
Over-reliance on aging talent
Chhetri’s own decision to come out of international retirement in March at the age of 40, to continue playing for the national side, inadvertently highlights a critical issue facing Indian football: the struggle to develop young talent capable of replacing seasoned veterans.
Despite his best playing days being behind him, Chhetri remains indispensable. He boasts an impressive 95 international goals, a tally surpassed only by global legends Cristiano Ronaldo (138), Lionel Messi (112), and Ali Daei (108).
The men’s national team is currently ranked 133rd in FIFA’s global standings, marking its lowest position in nearly a decade. The team has secured just one victory in its last 16 matches.
Spaniard Manolo Marquez resigned this month as head coach after only a year in the role, having achieved a single win in eight games. His final act was overseeing a 1-0 defeat in Asian Cup qualifying to Hong Kong, a nation with a population of 7.5 million compared to India’s 1.4 billion.
ISL future uncertain amidst rights dispute
The ISL, typically played between September and April, is now facing a potential paralysis ahead of its new campaign. A crucial rights agreement between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the company responsible for running the league, is set to expire on December 8 and remains unrenewed.
This profound uncertainty has directly impacted over 5,000 players, coaches, staff, and others involved in the league.
Despite these immediate challenges, Subrata Paul, a former national team captain and director, maintains confidence in the sport’s ability to overcome these hurdles in India, a nation predominantly captivated by cricket.
“Indian football, like any growing ecosystem, will face its share of challenges and transitions,” Paul, widely regarded as one of India’s best-ever goalkeepers, told AFP.
“I see this as a time to pause, reflect and refocus. Yes, the recent results and the uncertainty around the ISL are difficult for all of us who love the game, but I see a silver lining as well. It’s an opportunity to strengthen our foundation by investing in youth development, infrastructure and quality coaching.”
The franchise-based ISL was launched in 2014, aiming to popularize and promote the game by bringing global stars like Italy’s Alessandro Del Piero to India. However, the league has since seen dwindling TV ratings and falling sponsor interest.
Grassroots concerns
Global football organizations have long been eager to tap into India’s vast potential as the world’s most populous country. Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager and now FIFA’s chief of global football development, visited India in 2023 to inaugurate an academy.
AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey, who also holds a political position with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, met with Wenger last month. Wenger has consistently advocated for robust grassroots football development, suggesting that starting football at 13 years of age, as is common in India, is too late, and players should ideally begin by eight.
While India has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup and will again be absent from the upcoming tournament in North America next year, the country did achieve modest success in the distant past.
India qualified for the Olympics four times between 1948 and 1960, even securing a fourth-place finish at the 1956 Melbourne Games after losing the bronze-medal match to Bulgaria. However, Blatter’s 2007 “sleeping giant” analogy appears to remain true, with the sport still in a “deep slumber” as the distant third in popularity after cricket and hockey.
Veteran sports journalist Jaydeep Basu attributes part of the current predicament to prolonged mismanagement by Indian football chiefs. “The fact that the team which was ranked 99 in September 2023 has come down to 133 basically shows poor management,” Basu, author of “Who stole my football?”, told AFP.
He further alleged, “There is a caucus working in the AIFF of two or three people who are running the show for their own benefit.”
AFP has contacted the AIFF for comment regarding these accusations.