Over the past few days, I have come across numerous opinions on the current situation of Indian football. Topics range from players needing to go abroad, giving opportunities to overseas players of Indian origin playing elsewhere, youth development, and so on.

But my question i,s “what is our identity in football?”

Culture & Identity Crisis in Indian Football

 By identity, I didn’t mean achievements and rankings, but rather the style of play, the guiding footballing principles that shape a nation’s approach to the game. In most parts of the world, even in third world countries, from the very beginning, have been shaped by “The Culture”. Based on the culture and identity, Coaches and players are recruited and scouted.

If anyone has read Inverting the Pyramid by renowned journalist Jonathan Wilson from The Guardian, they will understand how much nature and climate influence the grooming of footballers. So, what is our playing style?

 For example, Chile is now sitting at the bottom of the table in the South American World Cup Qualifiers (CONMEBOL), yet they have a clear footballing pattern. Whether they win or lose, they hire coaches and bring players based on the identity. Winning is a far-off goal; even before that, a team needs an identity. A collective sense of what they collectively do on the pitch.

For example, England is known for direct play and long balls, Brazil for “Joga Bonito”, Argentina for “La Nuestra”, Netherlands for “Total Football”, and Italy for “Catenaccio”. Maybe they don’t follow the models these days, but they evolved from here. This is not only associated with the countries that have rich footballing heritage, but other regions show it too. Nigeria and Ghana build their game around athletic, resilient, and instinctive players due to their physical strength. Japan, on the other hand, emphasizes ball possession and structured discipline, so far starting from the early grassroots stages, kids are trained to protect the ball.

So, the first step for us is to define what kind of football we want to play.

Football Was Never an Electoral Issue in India

Secondly, football in India is still far away from being a political issue. In recent years, political parties in nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, China, and several African & Asian countries have included football in their election manifestos. India, by contrast, has yet to see any such initiative. Not just football, even Olympic sports fail to emerge as electoral topics. A lack of public awareness enables caste and religious divisions to dominate campaign narratives rather than long-term sporting visions.

Now, someone may ask, what should the government do then if the authorities and regulators are incompetent? But the reality is, due to the narrow scope of sports and sports science in our country, career choices for children shrink drastically. That’s why the pressure of the job market falls on a handful of sectors.

Up to this point Odisha government proved with hockey that if the government has a good will to promote any sports, then they can. Odisha spent on Indian hockey when the heritage game was passing through its darker days. The efforts paid off as we won back-to-back bronze medals in the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, ending a medal drought after 39 years since winning the last bronze in Munich 72.

The Coaching Education System is Struggling to Evolve

Now let’s talk about coaching education. How much work is really being done in this area? Are there enough good institutions? Although AIFF provides coaching education modules but there are clear gaps.

1. First, in a country as diverse as India, with 22 constitutionally recognized languages, coaching education is offered in only one language. Regionalism has a heavy influence on Indian football. Players mostly come from Kerala, Bengal, and the North-East. So, regional content needs to be more accessible.
2. Second, the content isn’t updated. Modern subjects like injury science, individual athlete management, and sports psychology still aren’t properly included.
3. Third, football in the 21st century is evolving very rapidly. Yet, there are not enough sufficient stabs to work on tactical tools like pressing, man & zonal marking, blocks, and their various new variations.
4. Courses don’t start at fixed times, and due to the uncertainty of future prospects, very few are interested. For those coming from non-football-playing backgrounds, it’s even harder to break through.

As per current data from the federation, there are 38 AFC Pro License holders in India. But how many of them are actually working as head coaches in the ISL or the I-League?

In the ISL, among 13 clubs, only one—Jamshedpur FC—has an Indian head coach, Khalid Jamil.

In the I-League, out of 12 clubs, 5 are led by Indian coaches:

Aizawl FC – Victor Lalbiakmawia

Delhi FC – Yan Law

Dempo SC – Samir Naik

Real Kashmir FC – Ishfaq Ahmed

Sporting Club Bengaluru – Chinta Chandrasekhar Rao

 

But even they are often hired out of compulsion. Financially strong clubs still mostly trust foreign coaches, like Churchill Brothers and Inter Kashi.

About OCI Model in Indian football

To those who want immediate success by calling in overseas players, I want to ask: Is this really sustainable development? Maybe we’ll get short-term results, but when it comes time to replace players, we’ll be in deep trouble. Like using this model, Jordan has qualified for the World Cup, but except for their senior team, their junior team isn’t a good talent pool. In the OCI model, the replacement process is critical. But when a country embraces its own style of play, it doesn’t just impact the senior team; it shapes the entire footballing structure, with youth academies aligned to meet the demands of the national philosophy

Selling “A Dream”

As for Vision 2047, it feels more like a dream being sold. A distant future is being projected so that whenever someone asks a tough question, the easy reply is, “We’re moving towards our goal.”

But deep down, we all know the progression rate in Indian football isn’t just zero, it’s actually negative.