When it rains, it pours, is an English idiom, and that perhaps best explains the current difficult times in Indian football. First was the news of the allegations against AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey on corruption charges, then later came the sacking of the senior executive member of the Federation, Deepak Sharma, on assault charges, and in between on the field, the Indian team touched a new low in performance by losing to lowly Afghanistan in a 2026 World Cup qualifier! Do we need anything more to present the plight of this once-popular sport in the country? Well, talk of popularity. To be sure, football can never be short of followers, but the sadness is to juxtapose this with the shoddy reflection of the sport in the country! Just when it seemed that things could not get any worse came the FIFA ranking, which showed India had tumbled several rungs to 121, its worst ranking in recent times. It was 129 seven years ago, though the worst has been 173 in 2015. The latest embarrassment comes after the Afghanistan reverse in Guwahati, a country that is 41 rungs below India.
Whither Indian football? This must be the question pounding the minds of football lovers, particularly old-timers who had seen or heard of the great moments that this country had in this sport. Indeed, the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, when India made it to the semi-finals, the Asian Games gold in 1951, and the 1962 Asian Games gold are unforgettable chapters in India’s football history. The slide began a little later, and the rest is now history. Where have all the players of the likes of Balaram, Manna, Mewalal, P K Banerjee, Chuni Goswamy, Bhaichung Bhutia, and I M Vijayan (to name a few) gone? Yes, today we have undoubtedly a gem in Sunil Chhetri, who has perhaps outshone all with a kind of record that makes him the proudest Indian footballer. With 94 goals for the country in 150 appearances (the most by an Indian player), this 39-year-old is currently placed next to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the active international goal-scorers list. But unfortunately, India needs more Chhetris if it has to come out of the deep hole that the sport has been struck in.
The defeat to the Afghans, ranked 158, seemed to have stung the officialdom so much that there was a clamour immediately for sacking the coach, the Croat Igor Stimac. Stimac’s mind must have gone back to his days as the national coach of his home country over a decade ago. In the run-up to the 2014 World Cup, Croatia had several stumbles that went against the national fervour. Even though his country managed to qualify then, he resigned but had the satisfaction of taking Croatia to a creditable 4th place in the FIFA ranking. Stimac had then come to India with high hopes. Last year was probably his best when he guided India to three title wins—the Intercontinental Cup, the tri-nation tournament, and the SAFF Cup—which helped the country finish in the top 100 in the FIFA ranking. But the Asian Cup debacle and now this plight in World Cup qualifiers have suddenly turned things around to embarrassment. The match against Kuwait first and Qatar thereafter in June in the next phase of the WC qualifiers could provide another opportunity to wriggle out, so to speak. If India wins against Kuwait, the three points gained would help India reach the third round, something the country has never achieved to date!
For long has Stimac been pointing out the lack of pool of players for him to work on, on a long-time basis. It has always been a tussle between the clubs and the parent body when it came to national interest. Who will forget the way the Indian team was assembled and sent to the Hangzhou Asian Games? The good results in 2023 had made the Sports Ministry help India send a football team. But as Stimac was to realise, the players had virtually trotted in at the time of departure, and the tactics and strategy were discussed on the flight to China. By the way, things went well with regard to the grooming of the national team! India finished with an entry into the last 16 in Hangzhou. Now the focus will be on how Stimac will be able to inject a new zeal into the team. Either the nation progresses from here or, as the Croat has said, he would quit should June spell doom again. In a way, that will not be a surprise, for no overseas coach has ever come and left with a sense of satisfaction from Indian football.
At the end of the day, the blame will be on the parent body, the AIFF, for the state of affairs. It was with great expectations that the current set of office-bearers would take over the reins in 2022. Perhaps it is right to say that this new body, which has past players, has yet to give an indication that they mean business and provide that touch of positivity. It is easy to make the coach the scapegoat, but that hardly answers the question of where to go from here. With FiFA deciding to have 48 teams in the World Cup from the next edition in 2026 and eight from Asia, the opportunities to qualify for the big stage have gone up. It is time that Indian football and the men at the helm wake up to this reality.
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Expectations grow, but disappointment too for Indian football
6
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10.04.2024
When it rains, it pours, is an English idiom, and that perhaps best explains the current difficult times in Indian football. First was the news of the allegations against AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey on corruption charges, then later came the sacking of the senior executive member of the Federation, Deepak Sharma, on assault charges, and in between on the field, the Indian team touched a new low in performance by losing to lowly Afghanistan in a 2026 World Cup qualifier! Do we need anything more to present the plight of this once-popular sport in the country? Well, talk of popularity. To be sure, football can never be short of followers, but the sadness is to juxtapose this with the shoddy reflection of the sport in the country! Just when it seemed that things could not get any worse came the FIFA ranking, which showed India had tumbled several rungs to 121, its worst ranking in recent times. It was 129 seven years ago, though the worst has been 173 in 2015. The latest embarrassment comes after the Afghanistan reverse in Guwahati, a country that is 41 rungs below India.
Whither Indian football? This must be the question pounding the minds of football lovers, particularly old-timers who had seen or heard of the great moments that this country had in this sport. Indeed, the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, when India made it to the semi-finals, the Asian Games........
© Mathrubhumi English
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