Can India break into the top 50 of FIFA ranking in 10 years?

Renegade

Renegade

Staff member
Luminary
Sports Minister believes it can > https://www.deccanherald.com//sport...a-rankings-in-next-10-years-mandaviya-3296058

India is currently ranked 125th. The domestic leagues and grassroots programs are poorly structured. There is a lack of quality infra and academies, plus there is no international exposure.

The situation is probably extremely similar to those of associate countries in the world of cricket. If ICC with all its resources is not able to bring the associates up, can India with its lack of interest be able to do it for football? One thing going for India which is not the case with Associate nations of cricket is population.
 
I started watching them about a year ago when we were ranked around 98. I thought this might be the lowest we will be in the coming future, but I was so wrong.
Supporting, IFT is a torture that one lays upon themselves.

Situation is at par as Bangladesh cricket team. Board is hella corrupt and too much political bootlicking going on. The only good thing that happened was that we got rid of Igor Stimac as a coach.
Our neighbouring countries are doing so much better than us in football.
 
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At the start of ISL there was hope that some great dividend was on the horizon. Not now. Only recent positive seems to be the better reach for the football related events due to social media.

There is definitely talent. But to attract talent is difficult as it will require a lot of effort in social and financial change. I understand how good top 50 sounds now. But targeting only top 50 and a myopic period like 10 years doesn't give any confidence.
 
No. We need to cultivate a mindset where sport players are not made fun of and ridiculed by others as just wasting time playing. This horrible mind set needs to change and sports academies need to come up in every city with their own practice grounds for sports other than cricket. Only the govt has funds and money to do this. But they don't have the mindset to think such things. Personally I'm fed up of seeing only cricket get such high importance in such a big country. There are other games too and we have enough population to fill the entire world and people are mad about cricket only. Fed up of this country's attitude. Just imagine if other sports got a body like BCCI for holding inter state contests and players got crores of money as rewards! Then no matter what sports it was, even if it was curling, it would have been popular.
 
6pack said:
No. We need to cultivate a mindset where sport players are not made fun of and ridiculed by others as just wasting time playing.
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I believe this is no longer a case. Sports is now seen as a lucrative careers. Parents with means no longer believe this.

Yes, Parents in not so good economic conditions restrain their kids for reasons 1. Immediate need of start earning & surety of some earning and success. 2. Lack of means, Creating sports career is costly.
 
Kevin Lane said:
I believe this is no longer a case. Sports is now seen as a lucrative careers. Parents with means no longer believe this.

Yes, Parents in not so good economic conditions restrain their kids for reasons 1. Immediate need of start earning & surety of some earning and success. 2. Lack of means, Creating sports career is costly.
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Pele, maradonna, zidane, messi, ronaldo - how many of these were having parents with means. These are sports which can be accessed by everyone. You cannot plan to make it big with players only from the rich.
 
6pack said:
So only rich people rolling in money can afford to send their kids into sports.
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Not necessarily, But generally!
jiith77 said:
Pele, maradonna, zidane, messi, ronaldo - how many of these were having parents with means. These are sports which can be accessed by everyone. You cannot plan to make it big with players only from the rich.
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I didn't say to plan in any way, I just stated present ground realities. The names you suggest come from different culture, system. If football and scouting were to reach to the level to their country, we also could.

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We also have Rinku, Jaiswal as examples. But these are exceptions, results of their parents extreme sacrifices, efforts. Not common. Most sportsperson have come from either sportsperson, support staff parentage or parents who could afford their Childs ambitions.

Maradona, Ronaldo kind sport person come normally in Archery, Weight Lifting, Wrestling, Boxing etc where there is eco system in some Indian pockets. Some are also from Army back ground which has strong eco system.

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Again, I am not suggesting what should be, I am just stating what is as per my observations.
 
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Kevin Lane said:
I say this in a sense that not all nations need to rank high in all sports....
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Does this give a vibe that India is high on all other sports except football ?
India, top populated country in the world is not at all good at sports in general.
Cricket became hit because after 90's liberalization, it was a primary conduit for media advertisement. Otherwise, majority of population wouldn't have heard of Cricket too.

We were good in tennis, early winners like Leander Paes, etc. got generally ignored and Sania Mirza took the advertisement sponsor monies.
We were good at Chess during Viswanathan Anand times, good that some hope is coming up in youngsters recent years.
Same for Geet Sethi, and people like those.

India definitely needs more push towards sports, but before that we have to spend more on quality education for all and health. Sports will automatically happen.
 
No way, as long as it is still under IOA control. Even if it becomes independent entity, top 50 ranking requires attracting some of the best managerial and training talent to come to India. We need academies across the country. The infrastructure that puts cricket infra to shame, to get into top 50. Believing and doing are very different things. Moreover, when leadership changes, visions change. We often see this programs shelved when hands change as there is no 'whats in it for me' with these programs.
 
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doors666 said:
We need to put serious amount of money into the game if we want this to happen.
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Money into the game means nothing if it is not channelled properly. Reliance for example has done more harm than good to Indian football. As is their modus operandi, they have tried to leech as money as they can with no investment at grassroots or infrastructure development, while also making it difficult to schedule internationals.

It is not hard to imagine that India can find a 11 that can make it to the expanded World Cup in a decade, provided the support is there at grassroots.
 
soccer is played a lot in india. There is no reason that if done properly, it cant be done. Good planning and execution will be the key.
 
Leaving the entire money debate aside, there's the fact that no one's serious enough to scout or provide proper training as well. I know of a friend who was called up for "national" selections after his performance in a tournament we played together. His footwork and shots were truly exceptional as well, it would usually be a terror to go up against him. This was a couple months before covid, so when the pandemic hit, naturally everything just fell apart, and there was no word after that.

This call up happened again after another tourney when restrictions had eased, and turned out that the whole thing was a sham. It was mostly just for namesake.

Also, there's the whole "study to get good job" mindset. Take a look at football diehards at medical and engineering colleges, where football is worshipped by a lot. You'll get to experience actual talented players and some very impressive gameplay. However, after 3rd/4th year, most just stop playing to pursue internships and placements or higher studies, because... well, that's what their futures depend on after all. You'll find good players at school level as well, but then there's the whole public exam grind.

It truly is sad, and as an avid football enjoyer, there's nothing really much to hope for. Best would be to encourage sports based scholarships, that could at least get us somewhere.
 
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