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indian football seems to be "imitating others without success".

text丨east asian football journal

editor: chen yuliang

once upon a time, we always made fun of the indian team, which is our close neighbor, for having the same huge population but unable to cultivate a strong national team.

at the beginning of 2023, many international mainstream population rankings showed that india's population had reached 1.429 billion, which also marked that india officially surpassed china and became the world's most populous country. however, despite having the largest population in the world, football has not become a mainstream sport in india like cricket.

although football itself has gradually received more attention in india in recent years, the level of the indian national team is still developing slowly, and it failed to qualify for the top 18 in this world cup qualifier despite a good situation. the reasons behind this are complex and diverse, including the unique history, social culture, league system, and racial and caste structure of india.

in the fifa men's national football team rankings released in july 2014, india is currently ranked 124th in the world. although india has been on an upward trend in recent years, it still lags behind benin (91), kyrgyzstan (102) and lebanon (116), the populations of which are less than one percent of india's.

1

barefoot football player

some people are always curious about why india, which was a british colony for a long time, could not develop a football culture, while cricket, which was also born in britain, has become almost a national sport in india. in fact, in the early years of india, when it was still a british colony, the football atmosphere was no less than that of cricket later.

the durand cup originated in india and was founded by sir henry durand, a civil servant stationed in india by the british government at the time. the first tournament was held as early as 1888. it is the third oldest football tournament in the world and the earliest in asia. at first, it was mainly for entertainment of british civil servants and military personnel stationed in india, but later it was promoted to allow all walks of life in india to participate. this cup competition is still held today.

the story of indian football and the world cup can be traced back to 1950, when the fifa world cup was just 10 years old.

as the world cup had limited global recognition at the time and countries that had just ended world war ii were in a state of disrepair, a large number of countries chose to withdraw from the 1950 world cup qualifiers. in asia alone, myanmar, indonesia and the philippines withdrew from the qualifiers, which also allowed the indian team, which was not particularly strong, to qualify. however, at the last minute, the indian team chose to withdraw from the competition, which caused an uproar in public opinion.

there were reports that india withdrew from the tournament due to lack of funds to take the team to brazil, but this reason is not true as fifa is ready to provide india (aiff) with the funds to travel to brazil.

another reason is that fifa requires all players to wear football shoes during competitions and does not allow indian players to compete barefoot. this statement was so widespread that it once became an "urban legend."

but years after retiring, indian captain sairen manna insisted that this was not the case and that the real reason for their withdrawal was that the all india football federation, the governing body of indian football at the time, believed that the world cup was not as important as the men's olympic football event.

this statement does make some sense. at that time, the olympics was indeed the most prestigious football event with the highest level of competition. but in any case, the indian team missed the world cup and has not been able to qualify for the world cup since then.

2

the impact of the partition of india and pakistan

in the early years, the indian national team was dominated by bangladeshis. in the first international match in the history of the indian team against sri lanka, all 11 players who represented india were from the territory of the then undivided province of bengal.

after britain ended its colonial rule in india in 1947, it officially declared the partition of india and pakistan, and most of the territory of bengal was ceded to pakistan. this also meant that a large number of bangladeshi players in the indian national team were unable to play for the indian team thereafter.

3

early asian class bully

although the indian team has never participated in the world cup in history, they have left a glorious history in asian football. in march 1951, rahim led the indian team to win the first asian games held in india, which was also the first men's football gold medal in the history of the asian games. the team defeated iran 1-0 in the gold medal match and became the first champion of the asian games men's football event. this is also the first major trophy in the history of indian football.

sahu mewalalhe scored the winning goal for the indian team in that match and was also named the top scorer of the tournament with 3 goals.

the following year, india participated in the 1952 olympics in helsinki. if there was any impact on indian football, it was that indian players finally started wearing shoes.

in the olympics in finland, the indian team was defeated by yugoslavia with a huge score of 1-10 because they were not used to the cold weather and played barefoot.after this defeat, the all india football federation forced football players to wear shoes when playing football, and indian players bid farewell to the era of "playing football barefoot".

in the following 1956 summer olympics, the indian team won a historic fourth place, which is also the best result of indian men's football in the olympics to date.

the event was held in goaneville de sousa (indian playerNeville D'Souza）he scored a hat trick in the quarter-final against australia, becoming the first asian in history to complete a hat trick in the olympics.

the indian team then won the gold medal again in the 1962 asian games and reached the semi-finals in the next two asian games, creating the golden age of indian football in asia.

4

the gap between major competitions: isolation that thinks it is brilliant

if you look at the history of indian football, you will find that apart from their withdrawal from the 1950 world cup for some reason, there was a long period of time (1958-1982) when they did not participate in the world cup qualifiers.

fifa banned india from participating in the 1954 world cup qualifiers due to india's last-minute withdrawal from the 1950 world cup. this decision also completely angered the indian football association. they were furious at fifa's decision and immediately decided to withdraw from the world cup qualifiers indefinitely.

in addition to withdrawing from the world cup, india also decided not to participate in the asian cup qualifiers organized by the asian football confederation, which is also a subsidiary of fifa, from 1972 to 1980. during this long period, they mostly played against teams from south asia and southeast asia.

it was not until 1986 that the indian team decided to participate in the world cup qualifiers again. with the rapid development of football in west asia and east asia, when india returned to the asian stage to participate in the competition, they found that asian football was no longer the era when they dominated.

at this time, the world cup has not only become very popular, but also surpassed the olympic football competition in terms of competitive level. countries have begun to send their strongest main players to participate.

the indian team, which has been playing chess with asean teams, found that the worst part of not participating in the world cup qualifiers is that you can't make a realistic comparison with other top teams to see how far behind you are. as a result, india has not qualified for the world cup or the olympics since 1960.

in fact, the only major tournament india participated in during this period (1958-1982) was the asian games, which objectively took a backseat during this era as the asian cup grew in popularity, and india did not achieve any outstanding results in the asian games (which was to be expected given their isolation from major tournaments).

5

the long-term lack of a professional league system and the "dual league" era

india did not have its first national football league until 1997.it was not until 2006 that china established its first truly national professional football league, which was far behind most asian countries.

in contrast, most afc member countries, such as japan, established their first national football league as early as 1965.

in the era when there was no national league, the all india football federation relied on some state and city leagues (such as goa league, mumbai league, bangalore league, delhi league, etc.) as unofficial top leagues. therefore, even with a large population, the work that the indian national team and club scouts can do is actually to explore these prosperous areas in india, and cannot radiate the whole country.

indian football has long been dominated by two main league systems: the national football league and its successors the indian football league (nfl and ifl) and the indian super league (isl).

the nfl, founded in 1996, was once india's top league, but due to problems such as insufficient funding, poor management and low audience interest, the league failed to effectively promote the popularity of football in the country.

after the 2006-07 season, the all india football federation disbanded the nfl, arguing that the nfl had failed to achieve its full professional goals over the years. to replace the nfl, the all india football federation launched a fully professionali-league, all ten clubs from the last season of the nfl participated in the inaugural season of the i-league.

however, due to its development level, the ifl, which inherited the mantle of the nfl, has not created better results and has had a small audience for many years.

in order to change this situation, the indian super league (isl) came into being in 2013. compared with the ifl, the isl, which was established in 2013, adopted a brand-new business model. by cooperating with european leagues and attracting international players to participate, it has boosted the attention of indian football.

however, as a commercialized event, isl relies too much on star players and short-term profits, and ignores the sustainable development of grassroots football and youth training.

the earliest isl league was an unofficial league mainly for entertainment. the league champion was neither an official champion of the indian football association nor qualified to represent india in afc club competitions. however, with the increase in attention, the two league systems gradually formed a competitive situation in the development of indian professional football.

this situation has resulted in dispersed football resources, an ununited system, and a chaotic player training and selection system, which ultimately hindered the development and growth of the indian national team and clubs.

over a period of time,these two national professional leagues in india were even once qualified to participate in the club competitions under the asian football confederation.india has also become a rare country with a "dual track" football league system.

in 2017, due to the afc's opposition to the indian super league becoming the main league in india, indian super league clubs east bengal and mohun bagan wanted the ifl and isl to fully merge to participate in the top league.

finally, the afc agreed that the champion of the indian super league (isl) will qualify for the afc champions league, while the champion of the indian football league (ifl) will qualify for the afc cup. this also makes india one of the few countries where both of its top leagues are eligible for asian competitions.

this rather bizarre "dual league" parallel system has prevented india's strongest clubs from competing on the same league platform for a long time, and training opportunities have also been greatly reduced.

the situation was finally resolved after three seasons, when the indian football association took the initiative to contact the asian football confederation to downgrade the ifl to the country's second-tier league, officially establishing the isl as the country's top professional league. the ifl was completely downgraded to the second-tier league of indian football, and the league champion would be promoted to the indian super league, ending the league's "dual-track parallel system".

6

indian super league's "weird" system and internationalization strategy

in the 2023-24 season, the indian super league celebrates its 10th anniversary. some of the operating methods of the isl league at its inception seemed different from traditional football leagues, and even a little "weird".

in order to reverse the situation that indian fans are losing interest in football, isl has established a partnership withzee sportsthe cooperation aims to create a "sports family entertainment" atmosphere such as american sports.

for example, the league adopts a playoff system similar to the nba, with no promotion and relegation system, and the game time is relatively short, only 7 weeks. when selecting players, each team also adopts a method similar to the draft, where the team selects foreign players through the draft rather than freely purchasing them.

in addition, the team must have local players and foreign coaches are mandatory. although this unique league model caused some doubts in the early stages, it objectively attracted a lot of attention to isl.

international cooperation is also an important way for the indian super league to rise rapidly. in 2014, the indian super league reached a cooperation agreement with the premier league, learned the premier league's management model, and established cooperative relations with european clubs such as atletico madrid, feyenoord and fiorentina.

for example, the indian super league team atletico de kolkata was once an official partner club of atletico madrid and jointly built the club plan. through these collaborations, the indian super league hopes to improve the league level and provide more international platforms for young indian players.

the birth of isl marks the beginning of the reform of indian football. drawing on the successful experience of european and american professional leagues, isl is mainly operated on a commercial basis, attracting many former football superstars to join.

for example, former arsenal stars ljungberg, pires, former spanish international capdevila, former england goalkeeper david james and other players are involved.

in order to attract these retired or near-retired stars, isl offered high salaries (sense of déjà vu?), as is common in other emerging leagues, and the joining of these superstars has brought global attention to the isl.

the success of the indian super league is inseparable from the strong support of capital giants such as star media (india) owned by media tycoon murdoch and reliance industries group owned by former indian richest man mukesh ambani.

in 2010, star media and reliance industries jointly introduced isl and invested nearlyus$ 350 million (inr 29.3 billion)at the same time, isl has also received sponsorship from major indian companies, such as hero motorcycle company, which has become the title sponsor of the league, further enhancing the commercial value of the league.

many people may be curious about why it is so difficult to build a national football league (even semi-professional) in india, which has no mountains or rivers and no artificial geographical barriers. this brings us to the next topic, india's national conditions.

7

complex multi-ethnic countries & the impact of the caste system

manolo marcos, the spanish coach who led the indian team hyderabad to win the indian super league, once commented,“india is like 20 countries mixed into one”。

in fact, what he said is true. india is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious country. its complex ethnic structure also affects the popularity and development of football. according to statistics, india has136recognizable ethnic groups, as well as a large number of ethnic groups that have an identity but have not yet been identified, rank first in the number of ethnic groups in a single country.

secondly, according to statistics in 2001, there were1396 speciesrecognizable "mother tongues", of which 29 are the languages ​​used by the majority of the indian population (i.e. more than 1 million people are mother tongues), followed byavailable in 121 languagesthe user population exceeds 10,000 people.

india also hasthere are nearly 36 religionsalmost all mainstream religions in the world can find a large number of believers in india, which is known as the "religious museum".

in such a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious country, there is a certain gap in communication and recognition between ethnic groups, making it difficult to form a common identity, let alone organize a national football league. therefore, india's league is basically based on leagues in various states and cities.

secondly, an important feature of india's social structure is the existence of a strict caste system. this deep-rooted system has restricted the popularity of football to a certain extent. different castes have significant differences in career choices, social status and lifestyle.

the chandala class at the bottom of the caste system has the lowest social status, the so-called untouchables, with a population of nearly 100 million, accounting for about 1/14 of the total population of india. this group, which accounts for nearly 1/14 of the total population of india, is subject to many restrictions even in their daily life and work, let alone participating in football.

as a team sport, football requires broad social participation and grassroots selection. however, in some places, the caste system imposes invisible restrictions on groups of specific castes, making it difficult for them to get opportunities to participate in sports.

young people from the upper castes tend to choose sports with higher social status, such as cricket, while football is considered a "low-class" sport by some lower castes. the caste system also restricts the development of football to some extent.

due to the existence of the caste system, mobility between social classes is limited, and football, as a sport that emphasizes teamwork and individual struggle, requires broad social participation.

however, high-caste youth usually choose cricket and other sports with higher social status, while low-caste groups lack the opportunity to participate in football due to economic conditions and social status. this deep social gap not only limits the selection and training of football talents, but also makes it difficult for football to gain higher social recognition in certain regions and groups.

8

the gap between the rich and the poor and the low urbanization rate

as a sport that is highly dependent on the attributes of urban communities, football has been closely linked to factors such as urban development, industrial communities, etc. since its inception. the best proof of this is that a large number of premier league teams had a strong working-class background when they were first founded.

in contrast, india has a huge gap between the rich and the poor and a very low urbanization rate. as of 2023, india's urbanization rate ranks 164th in the world, and only 36.4% of the population lives in cities.

you may ask why south america can produce excellent players, given the same disparity between the rich and the poor. first of all, putting aside the racial differences between south america and india, in south american countries such as brazil, the proportion of urban population to the country's total population has reached 87.1%, while in uruguay it is 95.5%. even venezuela, the only country in south america that has never qualified for the world cup, has an urbanization rate of 88.3%.

this table shows the urbanization levels of countries around the world in 2018. the darker the color, the higher the urbanization rate.

this also means that although india has vast land and a large population, since the urban population is not the majority, it is difficult for football culture to radiate to rural areas, and it is also impossible to radiate to the majority of the country's non-urban population.

9

weak grassroots football system

before the indian super league officially started in 2013, the indian football association had never organized an official national regional league. this meant that even if a large number of young indian football enthusiasts wanted to enter the professional football system or join the youth training of major clubs, they had no chance to participate in regional youth training leagues, lacked opportunities to be discovered by scouts and showcase their abilities, and lacked a path to advancement.

this situation was not alleviated until the establishment of the indian super league in 2013.

according to the official website of the indian football association, the country's current grassroots youth league is divided into four groups, with the competition taking place on a state basis. currently, there are youth teams from 14 states participating in the competition, while there are a total of 36 state-level administrative divisions in india.this means that this youth competition currently only covers 38% of the country.and if you want to go to the state's football association for more information, you may not even be able to find a website.

in fact, the management of grassroots football associations in india is in a mess. many local football associations are even non-existent, without even an office, let alone organizing regional professional leagues. the state teams participating in the national youth league are mostly made up of players from large cities in the state or directly affiliated to the youth training teams of clubs.

at the same time, compared with china's relatively complete local football associations and regional football facilities, india's grassroots football facilities are also seriously lacking. according to statistics from the asian football confederation, the number of football facilities per 100 people in india ranks sixth from the bottom in asia, only slightly better than sri lanka and east timor.

10

corruption in indian football & poor treatment of players

chhetri, the flagship figure of indian football, once admitted that if indians took football as seriously as they do cricket, they would have already become the best team in the world.

the average annual salary of indian cricket players is almost 3.1 times that of indian premier league players.cricket star virat kohli's annual salary has reached a terrifying $24 million., as evidenced by the fact that as many as seven of the world’s highest-paid cricket players are from india.

compared with the scenes of cricket match days when the streets are packed with people, football is currently unable to occupy the mainstream sports status in indian people's lives.

at the same time, indian football is also suffering from the hidden dangers of corruption. due to corruption and vote-buying scandals, the fifa ethics committee tribunal announced on november 27, 2014 that the former secretary general of the all india football federation (aiff)alberto colacobanned for three years for accepting bribes in connection with fifa's executive committee elections at the third afc congress in may 2009.

the chaotic and corrupt management of the indian football association made fifa unable to sit idly by, and decided to terminate the membership of the indian football association in 2022 because the country's football association was improperly influenced by a third party and seriously violated the fifa statutes. the u17 women's world cup originally scheduled for 2022 was also cancelled.

11

naturalization & borrowing chickens and eggs? give up the thought

some people may consider at this time that since india’s domestic football foundation is weak, can it use the chicken and egg method to quickly improve through blood naturalization, similar to indonesia, thailand and other countries?

however, this path is currently completely unworkable. india, like my country, has implemented a strict single nationality law.dual citizenship is not recognized。

therefore, if naturalized players want to play for india, they must give up their own nationality. due to historical factors, indian immigrants now live in developed countries such as europe and the united states. it is conceivable how difficult it is to ask these players to give up their current nationality and switch to india.

at the same time, there are very few outstanding football players among overseas indian immigrants. the german transfer market website once summarized a list of overseas indian players. among them, the most valuable one is only sarpreet singh who once played for bayern's youth training. the most famous ones may be former dutch international narsingh and fijian football king krishna.

similarly, although there are a large number of indian immigrants in football-developed countries such as the united kingdom, the english football association's leagues all require a work permit to play games. one of the necessary conditions for obtaining a work permit (gbe criteria) is that the country's football world ranking must be in the top 70. this also makes it difficult for indian teams and indian players, who are often ranked outside the top 130 in the fifa rankings, to enter the premier league.

although indian residents currently account for 2.64% of the total population of the united kingdom (the country's largest ethnic minority group), indian football cannot rely on the english football system to "borrow chickens and lay eggs."

12

role and contribution of goan and nepali players

to borrow the words of the spanish coach marcos, the importance attached to football in each state in india can be said to be "very different."

for example, in goa, football is a very popular sport. so the development and popularity of football in the whole country is very "fragmented". the northern, central and western regions of india have traditionally paid more attention to other sports such as cricket, and the foundation of football culture is weak.

regions with relatively developed football culture, such as the northeast, goa and west bengal, have more contact with football culture circles outside south asia due to geographical and historical factors. however, due to the small population in these regions, a nationwide football craze cannot be formed.

compared to countries with highly developed football culture, most of india lacks a history and cultural tradition related to football. cricket was introduced to india during the british colonial period and quickly became popular throughout the country, while football failed to take root in india's mainstream culture during the same period.

in the history of indian football, goa and nepalese players have always played an important role. goa was once a portuguese colony, and the local football culture was deeply influenced by europe, especially portuguese football.

goa is not only one of the important birthplaces of indian football clubs, but also has provided many outstanding players for the indian national team. the best proof is that eight of the indian national team's players in the just-concluded 2024 asian cup were from goa.

neville d'souza, the first indian football star mentioned above, also comes from goa. goans are naturally interested in and passionate about football, and their unique cultural background has helped the region become one of the centers of indian football.

in addition, the contribution of nepalese players in indian football cannot be ignored. due to geographical and historical factors, nepalese and manipur, where they mainly live, have close ties with northeastern india. with their excellent physical fitness and skills, nepalese players have gradually become important members of the indian football team.

particularly in the northeastern region of india, players of nepali origin have played a key role in club and local teams.

when talking about indian football, the topic that cannot be avoided must be chhetri, who is of nepalese descent. there was a time when chhetri's name was the only time when indian football could enter the mainstream football news, because he once scored 94 goals for the national team, ranking third in the world in the number of national team goals scored by active players, second only to messi and ronaldo.

if we only look at his goal scoring efficiency,0.63his goal scoring efficiency is even slightly higher than messi (0.62）。

in the 2008 afc challenge cup, india won the final against tajikistan 4-1 thanks to a hat-trick from chhetri. this victory not only gave india its first international title in many years, but also enabled india to qualify for the 2011 asian cup, its first asian cup in 27 years.

13

the decline of the two states in mainstream indian culture

although goa and nepalese players have made great contributions to the development of indian football, since these regions are not the largest cultural exporters in india and are not mainstream cultural areas, the football culture of the two regions has not spread across the country. their influence is still limited to the local and regional levels and cannot shake the development of national football. in terms of population, manipur and goa are both at the bottom of the population list of indian states.

the root cause is that the mainstream population of india has never really participated in football. looking through the outstanding figures in the history of indian football, we can see that people of nepali and goan descent make up the vast majority.

the favorite sport of mainstream indians is still cricket. compared with the scenes of cricket that often attracts thousands of people, football has not yet occupied the mainstream sports status in indian life.

14

huge number of football fans & future potential?

indians are not actually unloving of football. india may have a number of overseas fans of the five major leagues comparable to that of china, and has always ranked second in the number of overseas viewers of the premier league. the growth rate of indian viewers in the 22-23 season has also reached an astonishing 95%.

after the argentine national team won the 2022 world cup, a large number of indian people took to the streets to celebrate. fans erected huge portraits of messi, and many people even climbed up telephone poles. the scene was even better than the celebration in argentina.

it is hard to imagine what crazy actions local fans would take if the indian football team achieved outstanding results.

the 1997 indian federation cup semi-final between east bengal and mohun bagan (both teams are from kolkata) attracted more than 131,000 supporters.it set a record for the highest attendance at a sports event in asia to date.

it’s not like the indian football association hasn’t tried to draw attention to football before. in the 1980s, india hosted the nehru cup, which argentina also participated in (although maradona decided not to participate). does this feel like déjà vu with the china cup?

however, this popularity did not last long, and it was a drop in the bucket compared to the dominance of hockey and cricket.

to sum up, although india has the third largest land area in asia and the largest population in the world, it can be said that it has almost all the unfavorable factors for the development of football.

despite this, the indian football association and the government still want to put football on the fast track of development. the continued investment in the indian super league and continued application for fifa competitions are the best proof of this.

ironically, however, the indian football association also mentioned avoiding the "trap" of high input and low output, and the example they cited was the chinese super league in the golden era. they expressed the hope that indian football would not fall into the same golden trap as the chinese super league back then.

with the success of the indian super league, the indian football association is also increasing its investment in youth training and grassroots football. for example, it has opened university stadiums, promoted youth football projects, and increased the influence of football in the country by hosting international events such as the youth world cup. will the indian team become another asian powerhouse in the future? let us wait and see.