Kalyan Chaubey, president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), and Shaji Prabhakar, secretary-general, presented a roadmap for Indian football on Saturday, four months after taking over the organization.
The roadmap is an elaborate vision for the game’s development over the next 25 years. The 94-slide presentation, which is titled “Vision 2047,” lays out a path for Indian football to become a dominant force in Asia by the country’s 100th birthday.
One of the goals is to reach the top four in Asia, establish one of the continent’s top three leagues, and produce a star player in both the men’s and women’s games.
The term “Talent Identification and Development” received the most attention among the 11 core areas that the federation identified, which represent the number of players on a football field.
According to AIFF, Arsene Wenger, the former manager of Arsenal, will personally devote time to developing a data-driven scouting system for the national team.
Wenger has already given his team members work to do before they go to India. By February, we will be able to start the Talent Development Scheme in India, which will help us find more players.
With FIFA’s support, we will work on this project. During a meeting with the media here, Prabhakaran stated, “We will be scouting players on a scientific basis.”
From 1996 to 2018, Wenger led Arsenal to three Premier League titles. Next month, administrators of the AIFF said they would provide additional information regarding Wenger’s involvement.
Prabhakaran went on to describe the data-driven nature of their strategy: The data-driven strategy covers a lot of ground. It will not be unique to players. It will have an impact on every facet of football.
We will be able to make the right choice in this manner. However, we do not currently have the data.
In September, Chaubey, who defeated Bhaichung Bhutto to become president, emphasized the significance of developing a national football philosophy.
“We need to have our own philosophy rather than playing the way a foreign coach tells us to, whether they are from Croatia, Brazil, or England, and changing our style.
Our climatic conditions, average body weight, and physical structure are all unique. We cannot compete with Africans or Europeans.
The former goalkeeper Chaubey stated, “We need to understand what we can do with the players that we have.”
We must expand our talent beyond a small number of states. The majority of players for the national team are produced by Kerala, Bengal, and Goa.
It shouldn’t be like that in India, football is played everywhere. We require more international players,” he added.
The new panel’s decision to reject India’s bid to host the AFC Asian Cup in 2027 is notable. It appears to be a departure from the previous administration led by Praful Patel, which attempted to stage marquee events.
In 2017 and 2022, India hosted the U-17 men’s and women’s World Cups. According to Prabhakaran, their goals would not have been accomplished by hosting the continental event.
We do not wish to reflect. Yet, inside our methodology, facilitating such an occasion isn’t a concentration. It is in line with our plan. We have not discussed hosting large events at this time. We might investigate it in the future, Prabhakaran suggested.