India Gets Serious About Football Today
By: Daryl | November 24th, 2007
After 11 years of semi-professional soccer India’s first fully professional league gets going today. The All India Football Federation is launching the I-League – inspired by Japan’s J-League – with 10 teams, the plan being to grow that number in coming seasons. Attendances in the old National Football League were dwindling, as Indian football fans preferred to stay home and watch the Premiership on TV. The AIFF hope the I-League will get the beautiful game organized properly, and they’re working closely with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation to make it a viable league. Sepp Blatter did his part recently, wearing a turban at the AIFF’s 70th anniversary celebration. What would we do without him?
But not everyone’s impressed. IndiaTimes for example suggest that the I-League is just a spruced up NFL, with the same big clubs bullying the league (into upping the number of foreign players in a squad to four for example) and taking all the glory.
But India definitely needed to do something. The national team was ranked 145th when the new FIFA world rankings were announced yesterday. They’ve even had Chelsea’s Peter Kenyon over to discuss football business in India, and the hope must be that a successful league can cash in on the booming Indian economy and emulate the Premiership. There’s already a sponsor in place: the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and a TV deal with Zee Sports and Ten Sports showing the games. There even an agreement in principal for Grame Le Saux to come and do some commentating. Not sure whose idea that was, but they obviously didn’t pay much attention Le Saux’s punditry stint on the BBC, where his job appeared to be pointing out the obvious in the most irritating fashion possible.
The opening I-League fixture will be last year’s NFL champions Dempo vs Salgaocar in a Goan derby.
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Comments
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Oh God. You mean that’s not Photoshopped?
Posted from
United States
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Not even a little bit Abby. Sorry.
Posted from
United States -
Good for India. They figure it out what’s the best sport in the world. I wish them very best luck. It will surely grow.
Posted from
United States -
I am an Indian who actually loves soccer more than cricket (you will not find many like me
…)..its going to be one biggg challenge for soccer out there…everyone…I mean everyone is just crazy about cricket..its like a religion out there binding all the people together…but soccer is growing..it’ll take time but will be there someday!Posted from
United States
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