JAIPUR: With football having no presence in the state, the emergence of Rajasthan United is a good news. While on one hand it throws light on the available talent in the state, it also tells about the pan-India appeal of the sport.
Looking forward to I-League 2021-22, with 13 teams in the mix this year, All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das remarks, ‘When was the I-League so diverse?
“Our aim at the federation is to spread football all over India. And if you look around, football is pan-India at the moment – it’s no more confined to certain and limited pockets. In the I-League, you have teams from Kashmir to Kerala to Chennai to Aizawl to Goa to Punjab to Bengal to Manipur to Delhi and now Rajasthan, besides the Indian Arrows. The 2021-22 edition of I-League will feature 13 teams from 11 states, plus Indian Arrows. There are also so many teams who are waiting to join the bandwagon. Furthermore, a look at the Indian Super League (ISL) will tell you that there are 11 teams from 10 states,” the general secretary said.
Not just the top-tier leagues, the recently-concluded Futsal Club Championship had 16 teams from 16 states vying for the honours, while the recently concluded I-League Qualifiers had nine teams participating in it, Das pointed out.
The I-League is scheduled to begin from December 26 in Kolkata. Rajasthan United qualified after topping the I-League Qualifiers final round with seven points from three matches in October. The club is only a year old and is a result of efforts of 26-year-old engineer Kamal Saroha who hails from Delhi, but did his engineering from an institute in Jaipur. It was during his college days that he created a football team and in an unexpected turn of events, it graduated to Rajasthan United.
The state associations have a major role to play in the development of the sport and in the absence of active participation on that front, ‘it’s hard for Indian football to move forward together and walk on the projected roadmap in elevating the sport in the country.’
“The AIFF is facilitating partnerships with state governments like in Odisha, Kerala and Jharkhand to help develop the sport in those regions. I urge other state associations to follow in their footsteps and collectively contribute to the holistic development of Indian football,” Das added.
Talking about AIFF’s efforts to collaborate with the state associations, Das said that it is through the State Development Project they try and ensure to boost the existing infrastructure. “The idea behind having those particular states launching the project was to assist them in capacity building in developing the local infrastructure besides also enriching the local football resources in terms of players and coaches for betterment of regional and national football. For the inaugural edition in 2015, FIFA and AIFF had jointly come forward for its conceptualisation, funding and launch,” the general secretary said.
The project was relaunched in 2018 under the FIFA Forward 1.0 programme wherein 11 states were provided with a skilled human resource namely a state development officer to help achieve certain targets across all football verticals - coach education. leagues and competitions, grassroots football, youth development, referees development, players registration and women’s football.
“The second edition again spanned over two years concluding with impressive results achieved by the chosen states. The success of the second edition led to the project being continued permanently as such a dedicated department was created in addition to the existing areas of operations that would be fully funded by AIFF alone. For the future 11 new states will again be shortlisted to continue the program and try to help football grow uniformly,” he further added.
