The world of football is buzzing with excitement because the biggest ever FIFA World Cup, featuring teams from 48 countries, will be held jointly by the USA, Canada and Mexico in 2026. The qualification matches are going on now and some first timers have already qualified. They include Jordan, Uzbekistan and Cape Verde. The last mentioned, Cape Verde, is an unknown team for all football lovers. It is a nation of small islands consisting of an archipelago off the coast of West Africa.
With a total population of less than 6 lakhs, scattered across several tiny and rocky islands with poor sports infrastructure, the rise of Cape Verde was totally unexpected. It is being seen as a rare phenomenon in world football.But amidst all this euphoria, where is India ? Sad to say India is heading in the wrong direction. It is sliding further down the ladder of world football. While a tiny country like Cape Verde has qualified, the world’s most populated nation, with dozens of stadiums scattered across the vast country, has failed to make an entry into the mega football event.
Failed even at Asian level
Leave alone the World Cup, India has not even qualified for the final phase of the AFC Asian Cup. Recently, a loss to Singapore, sealed India’s fate. India’s national team players earn in millions and the domestic ISL tournament has made football a viable career option. And yet the football system in India has not been able to make use of the competition to create a competitive national team. In world football, India presents a sad story of abject failure.Officials of the All India Football Federation whose job is to develop the game, are often embroiled in court cases. There have been controversies over sending the national team to the Asian Games and also parting ways with previous coach Igor Stimac in an unnecessarily unpleasant manner. All these developments have seen the national federation in the news for all the wrong reasons. Team morale is at rock bottom and the scenario is extremely bleak.
What is the root cause ?
The root cause of the problem is that Indian officials as well as sportsmen often try to take the easy way out of any difficult situation. The easy way is to have very short term goals. For example sports officials want to win elections. This can be done quite easily by indulging in favouritism, giving or accepting bribes, misusing power and so on. Similarly, many players are also short sighted. Such players want to be selected in the state team so that they can get a job. They’re willing to fudge age certificates, give bribes and trade favours to get selected. They have no ambition to become world champions. No big, long term goals. This factor is there in all sports, but in some games, it is more than others. In football, infighting and dirty politics has been going on for decades. It picked up steam after the 1960s. Now it has reached a horrendous level and is preventing the game from making any progress.
Talented players are being overlooked
The misfortune is that because of the general prevalence of crooked practices, the genuinely talented players are being pushed down, overlooked and not getting the recognition that they deserve.Rooting out corruption and regional bias is not easy in the Indian context. It needs a reform in the mindset of the people. Right now, one cannot see anyone or any organization on the horizon that can bring about this change. Nowadays we have the necessary resources and infrastructure to succeed. But what we lack is the right sort of people in the sport. Countries which have much less than us have overtaken us because of our infighting and corruption
It is time for the All India Football Federation to take drastic action. Every club in India as well as the federation officials must throw away their own brittle egos and work together for India.
That sense of national pride which took our football teams to the top in the heyday of coach Syed Abdul Rahim must be rekindled for the good of Indian football. Unless this is done, we are doomed and we must reconcile ourselves to India’s gradual extinction from the world football fraternity.
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