Indian Football is now 100 times better than it was in 2010-11, asserts Kushal Das
India featured in the 2019 AFC Asian, their first appearance in eight years
|AIFF
All India Football Federation general secretary Kushal Das has admitted that Indian football has improved leaps and bounds as compared to its state in 2010-11. The official has backed Indian clubs to perform well at continental tournaments and should aim to play semi-finals in 2-3 years time.
Indian football was given a facelift in 2014, with the introduction of the Indian Super League, injecting professionalism into the system, something that was lacking up until then. It was mainly due to the efforts of the Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) that the ISL gained worldwide prominence, with many European players now plying their trade in India. It has seen All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das laud the efforts of FSDL to help the game grow and he admitted that Indian football is now a 100 times better than what it was a decade ago.
"FSDL has brought in a tremendous amount of value. They have helped in restructuring many of our own events. The launch of ISL has changed the landscape of Indian football. The way things are going now...it is 100 times better than what it was in 2010-11. FSDL has played a significant part in helping structure all of it. There a lot of more teams now, there are youth teams and a structure,â said Kushal Das, during an interaction with AIFF TV.
Every Indian club aspires to perform well at the continental level and FC Goa is set to become the first team from the country to participate in the group stages of the AFC Champions League next season. Das added that the primary aim of the Indian clubs should be to get past the group stages of the competition and within the next two or three years the semi-finals should be their aim.
"Clubs must concentrate on doing well in the ACL. Our first endeavour would be to get out of group stages and then in 2-3 years time we should be aiming for the semi-finals,â concluded Das.
