Kick-Off

Sportswriters were critical. There were no concrete plans for the national football team. No sustained or coherent training. Unfortunately, the Indian teams were mocked. Ciric Milovan, the Yugoslavia coach, who had served as the Indian coach for a brief period in the 80s, made us believe that India can give a good account against any country in the world. Many of us remembered how Indian footballers put up a brave fight against Carlos Bilardo's probable World Cup squad of Argentina at the Eden Gardens. But why had he left the country? Utter disgrace. And, before he left the country what was his comment? It is revealed in pages of Kick off.†What is India's National Football League? I have often faced the question even from my friends in the Asian Football Confederation, blissfully unaware that it does not have a National League. FIFA guidelines do not allow any private company to run a National League. Yet, AIFF signed an agreement with the founding Chairperson of Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), Mrs. Nita Ambani, wife of India's richest business personality, Mukesh Ambani. Incidentally, India is the only soccer-playing nation where promotion or relegation rules do not exist.It was argued by the AIFF President, Mr. Praful Patel, the former Union Minister, that under the patronage of a corporate house, Indian football would make tremendous progress, particularly with the introduction of ISL, the Professional League.But where does Indian football stand now? A look at the book will reveal where Indian football stands in different age group tournaments as well as our senior national team, with facts and figures, since the emergence of the new look of Indian football management.Peter Velappan, the eminent soccer administrator, who had served as the secretary of the Asian Football Confederation for more than a decade, and with whom I had worked for a year, in 2004, in Malaysia as a media officer and a consultant in the Vision Asia project, always reminded: ''Please, do not mix sports and politics, or else the standard of Indian soccer will never come up.î Since 1988, Indian football is being controlled by two politicians.The book has been written, keeping in mind the readers of all ages, as well as soccer followers all over the world, dissecting the reason for the ills prevailing in Indian soccer, a country with a population of 135 crores.