Need for professional setup without hampering the amateurs: Colaco

BEING a force in Asia is a distant dream for Indian football in the wake of their loss to the Maldives in the SAFF Cup final.

BEING a force in Asia is a distant dream for Indian football in the wake of their loss to the Maldives in the SAFF Cup final. Even those at the All India Football Federation (AIFF) know they have a task at hand to tide over the present crisis. AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco says that the lack of professionals in the sport’s administration at all levels across the country happens to be the main reason for Indian football’s present state.

“We need professional management people at all levels. When I say that, I mean even in the AIFF. Countries that are performing at

the top level have professionals running the show. But at the same time, I will add that we should know how to have a professional set-up without hampering the amateurs,” Colaco told The Sunday Express.

Despite the final loss, Colaco doesn’t think that India’s domination in the region is fading. “This is not the first time that we have lost in the SAFF Cup. It is very sad that we lost to Maldives, but they played a better game. Maldives have concentrated on football big-time and the SAFF Cup result clearly indicates that. We have players with potential, the coach is very professional, and we give them all the possible support that we can,” he says.

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So what is the problem? Colaco answers: “The main problem with us in India is that we don’t have a sporting culture. We have to improve our sporting culture. Youngsters don’t take up sports seriously since sportsmen are not respected here.”

He goes on to insist that the AIFF is concentrating on grooming youngsters. “It is a known fact that to have a strong senior team, the juniors should be trained and groomed well. That is one area we are working on. In Europe each club have their own age-group team where they train youngsters and tournaments are held at regular intervals. We are trying to do the same here. We have an under-14 team and we are in the process of starting a tournament for the under-12s, from where we can pick up young kids and groom them properly. It’s going to take some time, but there will surely be a change,” he concludes.