After arriving in Hangzhou for the Asian Games, the Indian men’s football team played two matches in less than 48 hours. Some, however, would argue that there have been three games played. More than the 5-1 defeat to China, the hosts, or the tense 1-0 victory against Bangladesh, the headlines have been dominated by the blame game – with news outlets, justifiably, questioning why India’s preparation and travel to the Games was such a colossal mess. Those questions were more pointed because the central government had intervened in late July to give the squad special permission to participate.
It is not our aim here to look for scapegoats. But for the readers’ benefit, it’s important that the sequence of events be laid out clearly. For going forward, what we need is synergy between every stakeholder. Anything else and the sport will be further damaged.
The villains in the current narrative are the Indian Super League (ISL) clubs, accused of putting their product and profits above the national interest. This, despite the fact that the second game of the new ISL season, between Goa and Hyderabad, had to be postponed because the star players on both sides – Goa’s Sandesh Jhingan and Hyderabad’s Chinglensana Singh – were away on national duty in China.
Here then are the facts. The last ISL season finished on March 18, with the Mohun Bagan Super Giant, as the team is now known, lifting the trophy. By late April, the schedule for the new season was ready. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) was actively involved in the finalisation of dates. With the Asian Cup being played in Qatar between January 12 and February 10, 2024 and national elections in India in April-May 2024, the organisers of the ISL were anyway left with little wiggle room.
In May, this itinerary was discussed and debated again. A couple of months later, on July 21, the AIFF sent emails to Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), which runs the ISL, stating that no senior player would be asked to go and play in the Asian Games. A few days later, Anurag Thakur, the Union Sports Minister, announced that the team would participate in the football competition despite not meeting the rankings cut-off, and there was a groundswell of public opinion about the need to send as strong a squad as possible.
Though the initial list shared by the AIFF did not have a single senior stalwart – no Sunil Chhetri, no Jhingan, no Gurpeet Singh Sandhu – it was announced in August that three seniors would accompany what would otherwise largely be an Under-23 side to China. That same month, the ISL clubs were asked to release two players each.
It’s here that we need to pause for a second. The Asian Games has a special place in the country’s football history, thanks in no small measure to the gold won by perhaps the greatest Indian team ever in Jakarta in 1962. But in its present guise, the tournament is not as prestigious as the Asian Cup. No FIFA ranking points are at stake, for a start, whereas Qatar improved their ranking by 40 places when they romped to the Asian Cup title in 2019. So for football at least the priorities are clear. In sum, the Asian Games are important more because of emotion than anything else.
It is also not being played during one of the designated FIFA windows for international football. So the clubs were under no compulsion to release players. But in national interest, the request was made and needless to say nation always comes first. Eventually the clubs did release the players- or some of them. Could this not have been done in a better way with the AIFF, ISL Clubs and national coach all sitting in dialogue? Wasn’t that the best for our football?
Bear in mind, there is a packed schedule of 12 rounds before the end of the year, even though the league is on break between November 7 and November 25, because of vitally important World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait (November 16) and Qatar (November 21). So it isn’t easy on the clubs either.
As for the notion that the FSDL has prioritised profits, that’s a joke. Over the past decade, FSDL has pumped around 1237 crores into Indian football. At the current rate of exchange, that’s nearly $150 million, enough to buy a moderately successful European football club. If they walk away in 2025 at the end of the current contract, the only loser will be the sport because for any company to pump in this kind of money will not be easy.
Also, the league cannot bleed money forever. At some point, the clubs involved have to become self-sustaining entities. Whether it’s Japan, South Korea, Qatar, or, notably, Saudi Arabia now, no Asian team has left a footprint on the international stage without putting a robust league structure in place. There is no either-or situation here. A strong league is as vital to Indian football’s success as the national team.
It’s FSDL’s job to do what’s best for their competition. But in this instance, they have been painted as the universal bad guys or villains. The sequence of events makes that amply clear. A league schedule is not a shopping list on Google Keep that can be changed according to whims and fancies. Each postponement affects another round of matches down the line.
Also, it is Igor Stimac’s task to get the best conditions for the national team. Only if he pushes for a month-long training camp before the Asian Cup can negotiations yield a two-week or 20-day-long one. That is how it is across the world. The club-versus-country debate rages everywhere, and compromise is always the name of the game. In this case, it’s the AIFF’s job to act as the connector between the two entities. They are not tasked with running the league, nor do they have to hand-hold Stimac, who brings a wealth of experience to his job. But what they must ensure is effective communication so that the fiascos we saw over the past week in China are never repeated.
Hunting for scapegoats, like getting a hashtag to trend, is the easiest thing in the world. But what Indian football needs are solutions. Stimac and the ISL clubs will both state their case. It’s the AIFF’s job to make sure the dialogues are constructive ones.
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