Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai
Is there a tomorrow for Indian football after the defeat against the 159th-ranked Singapore? India are out of the AFC Asian Cup and the FIFA World Cup. Maybe, the time has come to board up the Football House and sell the football pitches for grazing.
Anwar Ali and Rahul Bheke have a reported combined salary touching Rs 30 crore over the period of their contracts with their respective clubs. They wouldn’t have made it to the Mohun Bagan or East Bengal first team if they were playing in the 1970s and ‘80s. Sunil Chhetri has been brought back to the Indian team fold by dint of his legendary status. India have been struggling to put the ball in the back of the net for quite some time now. So how about sending an SOS to IM Vijayan, or maybe Shyam Thapa? That is tongue firmly ensconced in cheek.
The current Indian squad reeks of abject mediocrity, but the accountability should start at the top. Will Kalyan Chaubey, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) president, own up the responsibility for the national team’s free fall?
In 2024-25, Fifa increased its grants for the AIFF from Rs 16.21 crores to Rs 21.16 crores. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), too, gave more money to the Indian Federation — an increase from Rs 9.10 crore to Rs 10.91 crore. But what we saw from the AIFF was a budget cut for the grassroots development and courses — from Rs 1 crore to Rs 22 lakh. The Federation also slashed nearly Rs 20 crore from its competition budget, including the I-League.
For More Exciting Articles: Follow RevSportz
Indian football has badly suffered by making the Indian Super League (ISL) its be-all and end-all product. It has effectively put paid to competitions like Nagjee Trophy, Stafford Cup, Bordoloi Trophy, Rovers Cup — the tournaments that used to provide exposure to footballers. Clubs like JCT, Salgaocar, Dempo SC, Vasco SC, Kerala Police, Mahindra United — the entities that used to cater to the supply line of Indian football — have shut up shop, mainly because of the AIFF’s one-dimensional policy. Indian football continues to go deeper in the mire under the federation’s watch.
As regards the ISL, it has a higher salary cap (Rs 18 crore) and pays its players 30 per cent more on average than the Singapore Premier League. And yet, Singapore beat India, serving everyone a reminder that the ISL is a retirement home for bang-average foreigners and the Indian football market has been inflated by certain clubs.
“Totally agree, the ISL needs to have a serious rethink about its salary cap,” said former Indian football team captain Bhaskar Ganguly, speaking to RevSportz. Ganguly, who was part of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators, went on: “The way things have been going, I don’t see any future for Indian football. The system needs a radical overhaul. So many tournaments have been disbanded. Young players barely get more than 16-17 matches a season.
“How will they grow? The likes of Anwar and Bheke are playing because without proper talent nurturing, there’s no one to challenge them. Without the ISL clubs playing Indian strikers, how will you get goal-scorers for the Indian team? It’s very disappointing.”
Back in 1998, the late Anjan Mitra, then secretary of Mohun Bagan, told this correspondent that India wouldn’t be qualifying for the World Cup finals in the next 100 years. His words still sound prophetic.