Another shocking news for Indian
football as it slipped five places to 172nd in the latest chart, the second
lowest ever, and courtesy two back-to-back losses. India lost six ranking
points after their defeat at the hands of Turkmenistan and Oman in their 2018
World Cup qualifiers last month and they now have 122 points. The Indian team,
which had their lowest ranking of 173rd in March, is now ranked 33rd among
Asian Football Confederation countries.
In the last 25yrs from 1990 to 2015
a number of foreign coaches were in charge of Indian national team. They are
namely Josef Gelei (Hungary), 1991 Jiri
Pesek (Czech Republic), 1994
Rustam
Akhramov (Uzbekistan), 1996 Stephen
Constantine (England), 2003 Bob
Houghton (England), 2006 Wim
Kovermans (Netherlands) 2010 Stephen
Constantine again 2014.
Yet, India has only
managed an average FIFA ranking of 133 (it is 172 now) and it has had a
downward trend. No disrespect to any foreign coaches, but their tenure is
limited, bringing them is extremely expensive for the administrative system and
it is virtually impossible for a non-Indian to be able to streamline a system
for a country as vast as India in a short span of 2-3 years.
In the recent time Smt Nita Ambani founder Chairperson Football Sports Development(Reliance-IMG-Star Network) initiated
Indian Super League to develop Indian football. HeroISL is world's 4th popular
league in terms of viewers but 172 FIFA ranking of Indian National Team, it
raises many questions. This shocking down fall may be an eye opener.
Are we going into right direction?
When entire corporate is in their top enthusiasts are ready to support
football, is AIFF doing justice to select their coach and support staff?
May be it is the best time to rethink and
evaluate the function of AIFF
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