Indian football inspired by tiny Iceland in grassroots expansion
geneva — The size of the task facing Dutchman Piet Hubers when he agreed to help develop grassroots soccer in India quickly became apparent with one simple comparison.
Hubers discovered there are more full-sized pitches in his home town of Wijchen, which has a population of around 40,000, than in the whole of Mumbai, which has more than 20 million inhabitants.
“That makes it very challenging,” he told Reuters in an interview held at the International Sports Convention in Geneva.
Iceland, who reached the quarterfinals of Euro 2016, are a good guide to what can be achieved.
“I use Iceland very much as an example,” said Hubers. “They invested a lot of money in facilities, in halls, in artificial pitches but also in coaches.
They (Iceland) invested a lot in facilities, in halls, in artificial pitches but also in coaches
Piet Hubers
“It’s mandatory that every coach is qualified otherwise you can’t even coach a youth team and that in my opinion is one of the basics of the success of Icelandic football.”
Cricket-loving India is a sleeping giant as far as football is concerned.
The national side are 137th in the world rankings and, on the only occasion they qualified for the World Cup in 1950, pulled out without kicking a ball.
However, the country of 1.3 billion is finally waking up to the most popular sport on the planet.
The Indian Super League (ISL) is in its third season and Kushal Das, secretary general of the All India Football Federation, has said the country is aiming to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Hubers, a former defender for Dutch top-flight club NEC Nijmegen, believes that developing the sport at grassroots level is fundamental to India’s plans.
“The more players you get into the system, the better the quality will be at the top,” he said.
The ISL, promoted by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and Rupert Murdoch’s Star India TV, have their own grassroots programme of which Hubers is technical director.
The most talented players are selected for a residential programme, based near Mumbai, known as Young Champs. —