Legendary Indian striker Bhaichung Bhutia rallied all stakeholders in the nation’s sporting ecosystem to emphasize grassroots football in order to create a lasting impact at the senior level.
Bhutia announced a partnership between his academy, Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools BBFS and Premier League outfit Southampton, aimed at the development of coaching systems at the grassroots level.
“In India, if the senior national football team has to do well, I think our U17, U19 and U20 teams have to start qualifying for the Asia Cups and World Cups on merit basis. Until and unless you don’t do that, it becomes very difficult for the national team to give you great and big results,” the former Indian skipper said.
“That’s where we can start dreaming for our national team to start doing well,” he added.
“If you look at the results especially for the age group tournaments, we have not been performing great. Today, U20 players are losing to Bangladesh, not qualifying for the Asia Cup. We can’t expect miracles from the senior team. We need to really work at the ground level. The important thing for the AIFF is to bring as many kids as possible to play.”
He also urged ISL and I-League sides to invest in the grassroots as the nation requires a stable setup at the youth level in order to make a dent at the top level of football.
“We’ll also have to make sure that every state, club, I-League and ISL invest big time in grassroots honestly because we still need that setup what a lot of European leagues are doing, investing in young talent and making it an asset, benefiting the players, and the national team,”
Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier hailed the ability of the Saints to develop talent and opined that the nation would only benefit from such tie-ups.
“Nobody develops footballing talent better than The Saints. I have been there all my life and I can tell you that they have the most committed academy coaches and support staff which have produced some of the best players in England,” Le Tissier said.
Comments
0 comment