Football, the world’s most popular game, has never found the recognition it deserved in India — a country obsessed with cricket. Except in havens like West Bengal, Goa, Kerala and the North-East, a youngster’s choice of football as a career has always been looked down upon, regardless of his potential.

And perhaps one cannot blame the sceptics entirely. With infrastructure that is mediocre at best and a support system that has always worked on a shoe-string budget, Indian football, unfortunately, could never put its best foot forward.

But things are changing. For the past couple of years Indian football has been given a shot in the arm as corporates have finally woken up to the potential of the game in the country and are pumping in the money on talent hunts, special training camps supervised by foreign coaches, academies that tie-up with big European clubs and so on.

Until recently, it was only Tatas and to an extent the Mahindras — through their now-defunct Mahindra United football club — who had shown interest in the game. The impact which the big corporates can have on a game can be judged by the success of the Tata Football Academy (TFA) in Jamshedpur.

For many years, the majority of players who have donned the Indian national jersey have come through the TFA. But now many more corporates are diving into this sport in India. The ongoing Airtel Rising Stars talent hunt — of which the Hyderabad leg was held at the Gymkhana Grounds — is one example. The programme promises to select 3 or 4 players from 12 different cities and train them in Bengaluru under the supervision of coaches from the Manchester United Academy.

That’s not all, from the camp, the coaches will select the most promising players and fly them to Manchester for specialised coaching. “Corporates showing interest in the game is huge encouragement. With the involvement of big European clubs, even the interest among the youngsters has shot up,” said G.P. Palguna former India international and one of the judges at the event. “I am pleasantly surprised by the number of entries we got,” he added.

“Corporates can change the face of the game. They have started with training camps and talent hunts. Now they should go a step further and organise inter-school or inter-club matches regularly. Those tournaments will act as the cradle for tomorrow’s future stars,” said Shyam the coach of State Bank of Hyderabad, and also a judge in the Rising Stars programme. Another programme which follows the same idea as Rising Stars is the Bajaj Allianz Junior Football tournament, held in collaboration with German giants Bayern Munich. Through the tournament the organisers selected five players from different parts of the country to be trained under the coaches at Munich for a period of two weeks.

“Kids in India are very talented. All they lacked till now was the exposure to grow as a player. That is what such tournaments and talent hunts are providing,” said S. Tony, former AP coach.
Also, during the European Championships, Carlsberg conducted a contest in which the winner was given an opportunity to go to Poland and present the Man of the Match trophy in one of the semifinals. Such events go a long way in boosting the image of the sport in the country. Perhaps the biggest boost that Indian football has received in a few years would be the IMG Reliance’s 15-year marketing deal with the All-India Football Federation.

Following the deal which was inked last year, AIFF is working on a roadmap to organise an IPL-style franchise football tournament in India. The 8-team league is expected to feature familiar names from greener pastures like Europe and Latin America. The league is also likely to improve the football infrastructure in the country. With such interest being taken by the corporates, one can surely hope for a much brighter future for Indian football. It is truly, the best ever time for Joga Bonito in the country.