Impacting Indian Football - Post ISL

There has definitely been an air around the ongoing Indian Super League (ISL) and at the same time a lot of doubts about whether it is sustainable and actually helping Indian Football. There are many aspects to this – one can say the general feeling about football in the country is going up and with the world class marketing and production of the tournament, the fans are certainly seeing a level of sport quality not seen in India before. As with the benefit to the Indian footballers and the grassroots development there is still an air of uncertainty. Although foreign players are coming in, they are mostly the older players and we are still not seeing “World Class” football here. Also is this level of spending by each franchise sustainable? Clearly that is a no. But, what these 2 seasons of ISL have done for the Indian football scenario is that it has opened up a platform for more forward thinking about the game itself.

How often do delegates from the Bundesliga, Premier League, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Leicester City and the likes come to India within the span of a couple of months? Not often, but the last few months has seen an increased interest from big names in football who are taking the Indian football market more seriously now. The Indian Football Forum, India Football Movement and other big conferences are testament to this. This definitely makes the commercial angle more attractive for India as a football market. Can we now then expect the likes of a Real Madrid or Manchester United have pre-season tours and see Messi and Ronaldo playing here? Probably not in the near future. But does it make more sense to get atop team from Brazil or lower teams from UK and Germany coming to India? Definitely.

What the football fans and followers (cannot really consider the newly turned football spectators as fans) have seen through the ISL is what a world class organized and produced tournament feels like. But still the level of the game they have seen here has to be taken a notch up. This opens up a market for event organizers to bring in a Hertha Berlin or an Argetina U-23 to play here. Will all the followers take a liking to this – mostly not. We will not see a viewership for such teams in the tens of millions as we have with the ISL, but if marketed and put forward correctly, this can definitely have a huge impact to take the football following to the next level.

So what exactly can we look for in the coming years with respect to Indian football events? We will see some big teams coming in for sure – targeted at capturing smaller but more engaged audiences. This will however, have an impact all across the country as the standards of the online marketing for football have been set by the ISL. We need to see younger players, playing in the top level at the world to come and show us world class football too. This will give an impetus to Indian football to go to the next level. We need to see what is offered on the higher levels of football in the World for the expectations to rise from Indian football. This is the right way to go for the short term future. Yes we would all like to see an Eden Hazard or Gareth Bale play in India, but currently the money that needs to be put in for that is really not worth the risk.

The Sait Nagjee International Club football tournament which is around the corner is a good example of what quality of football needs to be brought in to be witnessed.With teams like Watford FC, Levante UD, FC Rapid Bucuresti and Clube Atletico Paranaense planned to play, it is going to be a treat for the Indian football lover. We at the Football Mind look forward to more such initiatives which are both practical and rational from the cost to benefit point of view while keeping the sentiment of the sport alive at the same time. This is the future we need to walk towards and be patient while climbing the ladder of football as a country.