A billion-plus population, some of the oldest football clubs in the world and one of the world?s fastest growing economies?India, it seems, has all the ingredients to be a global football powerhouse. But Indian football is more of an oxymoron, with India ranked a dismal 132 in global rankings. It?s not about dearth of talent or even lack of interest in football, as is evident from the massive fan following of European club football and global events like the World Cup. According to Sanjay Gangopadhaya, marketing director, Nike India, football fan following is growing in India and that reflects in his company?s sales trends. ?Nike in India retails football gear that includes cleats (football boots), shin guards, footballs and other equipment, the club merchandise of several European Clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, and Barcelona, as well as national team jersey replicas. The demand for such merchandise is on the rise among consumers,? he says.
?The biggest problem is the dearth of proper infrastructure. The way our football functions also needs to be completely revamped if we want to achieve the status of even a decent team at the international level,? says Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia. He adds that for any country to progress in football, it first needs to have a strong league with clubs. Udit Sheth, CEO of sports infrastructure company TransStadia, feels football infrastructure and marketing need to be revamped. ?Overall, the sport is not pumped up enough. While there are a great number football lovers, they do not translate into eyeballs and consequently sponsorship interests. The focus needs to be infrastructure development, re-packaging and talent nurturing,? he says.
Bhutia feels that it?s about making the game sellable by having a profitable business model. Like many in the sports industry, he feels cricket?s IPL model could do wonders for Indian football. ?IPL has proved its workability already and could do a world of good to football,? he says. Media reports suggest that the Indian football industry is pegged at Rs 200 crore, while Indian cricket is over Rs 5,000 crore.
Some expertsopine that IPL could be taken as a benchmark for football?s development in India. They point to an attractive, competitive and a professionally-run product that can capture the attention of the population and which has delivered through a strong television platform. A report published recently by Asia Sponsorship News valued football sponsorship in India in 2010 at $7.8 million. That?s only 2.58% of the total sports sponsorship spend in India, and ranks fifth behind cricket, motor sports, athletics and tennis.
Club football in India has its predicaments with ever-increasing expenses and diminishing returns. ?Club owners get nothing in return of their investment in football. Clubs are not able to generate revenues and don?t even have their own stadia,? says Armando Colaco, head coach, Dempo Sports Club, the current I-League champions. Colaco adds that his club?s parent company spends more than Rs 10 crore annually and the returns do not match the investment by a big margin. ?They (team owners) don?t gain anything out of football. They support the clubs as they are passionate about the game,? he says. He suggests that clubs should be aided by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to develop their own stadia and infrastructure, which could serve as revenue-generating assets for the clubs. Arshad Hussain, senior coaching staff of the soon-to-be disbanded club Mahindra United, concurs. ?The I-League (the national football league) is not being organised in a professional manner like the English Premier League or even the J-League of Japan. After all, we are a company and despite our brilliant track record, if we don?t make money, how will the club sustain,? he asks.
At a recent seminar on Indian football, Neel Shah, former director of fan development, United States? Major League Soccer (MLS), said Indian football can learn a few lessons from the MLS. ?One reason for development of soccer in the US is a strong professional league. MLS has been built on the single entity system. As a club, you have a stake in the success of the league. In the NASL (MLS? predecessor), the financial risk was on the club, MLS got it on the league,? he said. Asserting that outlook for football in the US before the advent of the MLS was similar to the present situation in India, Shah says, ?Building a brand for the clubs as well as the league is very important. You need to figure out who is in that football community and how to target that community. In MLS, we developed programmes to make the clubs popular in their local markets. It wasn?t about building only the MLS; it was about building the clubs.? He also emphasises the role of organised revenue sharing, talent scouting by the league, as well as the clubs and a business model based on football-specific stadia owned by the teams.
Marcus Luer, group CEO of Total Sports Asia, feels that it?s not necessary that the I-League has to be the feeding ground for the sport?s development in India. ?The shortest way forward is to create a noise level with a successful national team. You need to start from the top and ensure that it trickles down,? he says. He believes that India can look outward for its national team development too. ?Many Indians living across the globe play football in their new home countries. AIFF can rope them in to play for India as well. This has been done by other countries,? he says.
Alberto Colaco, general secretary,AIFF, says the sporting body is trying to operate more professionally and has big plans for Indian football. ?In the past eight years, our annual budget has seen a steep rise from Rs 5 crore to Rs 50 crore,? he says. Colaco also talks of the growing interest of corporate entities in the I-League, considerable sponsorships for the national team, development of training centres, encouraging support from Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and football?s global governing body FIFA, and the national team?s impressive performance over the past two years. However, he concedes that problems still persist.
?Despite our efforts, the I-League is still not fully professional. We are receiving support from FIFA and AFC and hopefully things will get better,? he says. Talking about AFC dropping Delhi and Chennai from the ambitious Vision India project, Colaco feels disappointed. ?Vision India unfortunately is still not successful. We are talking to the AFC on how to relaunch the Vision (India),? he says.
In fact, in order to synergise business in Indian football and professionalise it, AFC has formed a committee under its president, Mohamed Bin Hammam. According to a report posted on AFC?s website, the AFC president strongly raised the issue of revenue sharing with the 14 I-League teams at an AFC workshop on Indian football at Kuala Lumpur in February. ?The money generated by Indian clubs does not cover their expenses and I would like to suggest that the AIFF give the revenue generated by the I-League to the clubs for a few years so that they can re-invest in football and deve- lopment of infrastructure,? the report quoted Hammam. While experts believe that money is not really a problem, with enough brands interested in Indian football and its potential, the litmus test now would be about how professionally football is managed and to what extent can AIFF create business models that would catapult India as a global football powerhouse. AIFF is already receiving significant funds and resources from FIFA and the AFC to harness the growth of the sport, point out experts. Still, the long-term vision of the Indian national football team?a key driving force behind any sport?must include a serious effort to join the global football community by setting their sights on being a world top-50 within the next five to ten years. For now, Indians will have to be satisfied by cheering for other national teams at the World Cup in South Africa.