At the end of the 39-page ‘Strategic Plan’ released by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Wednesday, there’s a photo of FIFA President Sepp Blatter with Indian football chief Praful Patel.
Written below is a response to “India is a sleeping giant”, the oft-quoted line uttered by Blatter a few years ago. The reply reads, “We are now awake to realise the dream…”
If one were to judge the claim solely on the basis of aims outlined in the vision document, there would be little reason to disagree. But one needs to remember that it was only in 2012 that the AIFF had released ‘Lakshya 2022’ which had India’s qualification for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar as its major objective. It’s noteworthy that federation officials now publicly admit that India is nowhere close to realising that dream.
To be fair, the current plan is reasonably less sanguine about the national side’s prospects. The AIFF expects India to be among the top 15 Asian nations by the end of 2017, in addition to at least progressing to the second round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. India is currently ranked 30 in Asia.
Interestingly, even though the strategic plan will run for four complete years from 2014-17, it wasn’t unveiled until Wednesday. According to the document, the next planning cycle will be five years long (2018-22).
As part of the plan, writes Praful Patel, the AIFF has set 13 measurable goals that “will not only form the foundation of football’s progress in India, but also ensure that football has a positive and inclusive effect on the Indian society.”
In terms of national side’s objectives, the AIFF also expects India to feature at the 2019 Asian Cup when the tournament will be expanded to 24 teams. At the junior level, the national body has set the minimum target of qualification for corresponding continental championships for age-groups 16 to 22.
To boost Indian teams’ capabilities internationally, a National Training Centre is expected to be set up before the end of 2017. As part of the country’s preparations for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in the same year, AIFF will bid for the AFC under-16 championship in 2016. It’s expected that the tournament will test India’s on and off the field readiness for the global event the following year.
The AIFF’s organisational plans for the under-17 World Cup feature as one of the 13 goals as well. Last month, the appointment of Javier Ceppi as tournament director and Joy Bhattacharya as project director was confirmed by the federation.
The relevant organisational committees and two World Cup academies are slated to be set up by the end of the year. A batch of under-14 players, who are expected to represent the country in 2017, are currently training at the AIFF regional academy in Goa.
The eight shortlisted venues for the under-17 World Cup will be finally whittled to six next year once FIFA’s inspectors give their final views. This will be followed by a public relations campaign to boost interest in the competition with a special focus on the Indian side.
In fact, AIFF has sought to improve its public image as well. The federation intends to hire a public relations agency while augmenting its presence on social media.
( To be continued )
