the rise & fall of indian football report

Gokhale Institute of Politics & Economics

The Rise & Fall of

Indian Football Main Guide: Dr. Rajas Parchure

Co Guide: Dr. Anurag Asawa

Shekhar Ibhrampurkar

MA 1019

The Rise & Fall of Indian Football

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Acknowledgement

At the outset, I would like to extend my gratitude to my both my

guides Dr. Rajas Parchure & Dr. Anurag Asawa for their extremely

appreciated guidance and backing throughout the course of my

thesis. Interacting with them to understand better the various issues,

challenges and different approaches has been truly informative and

motivating. It was their persistent counsel regarding my draft that

made me understand, analyse and amend various aspects in my

work.

Lastly, I heartily thank all the other faculty members, office staffs

and my friends for their immense support.


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Declaration

I, hereby undersigned, affirm that this study has been done solely by

me, as Master‟s thesis course in partial fulfilment of the

requirements for the degree of the Master‟s in Arts in Economics

from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune.

April, 2012

Yours Faithfully

Shekhar Ibhrampurkar

MA II 1019

We, hereby undersigned, confirm that this study has been completed

by the above mentioned student independently under our guidance,

only for the fulfilment of Master‟s in Arts in Economics from Gokhale

Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune.

Dr. Rajas Parchure Dr. Anurag Asawa


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Index

Current Status……………………………………...………………….....5

The Great Indian football revolution…………………………………..7

Research Methodology……………………………………...……………8

The Golden Era…………..…………………………….………………..10

The Lost Decades…………………………………...…………………...12

A New Beginning……………………………...………………………...14

Factors leading to the fall……………...………………………………16

Investment in football………………….………….……………………19

o National football league……………………………….……………….20

o Football clubs……………………………………………….……………21

o Youth academies………………………………………………………...23

o Stadiums………………………………………………………………….27

Revenue structure……………………………………………………….29

o Sponsorships……………………………………………………………..31

o Prize money………………………………………………………………33

Regional Biasedness…………………………………………………….34

o Club locations……………………………………………………………36

o National team composition…………………………………………….37

Unstable national structure…………………………………………...38

Conclusion………………………………………………………………..39

The Road Ahead...……………………………………………………….42

Bibliography……………………………………………………………...43


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“First of all, young men must be strong. Religion will come

afterwards. Be strong, my young friends… you will be nearer to

heaven through football than through the study of „Geeta‟….. You

will understand it better with your muscles a little stronger. You will

understand the mighty genius and the mighty strength of Lord

Krishna better with a little strong blood in you”

- Swami Vivekananda


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Current Status

The current state of Indian football in no way reflects the glory and

the strength of Indian football that once was unmatched in Asia.

Although no ranking system existed in the early 19th century, India‟s

achievements cannot be ignored by simple comments or lack of data

claims. Before we go into the detailed analysis of India‟s golden era

let‟s have a look at where Indian football currently stands.

FIFA Ranking Men’s Women’s

Current 158 54

Asian 28 11

Highest 94 50 Lowest 165 100

The Indian men‟s football team that once dominated the Asian

competitions now languishes at 158 just 7 ranks away from their

lowest ranking of 165, which the Indian team was at during March

2007 under former English manager Bob Houghton, Even in Asia the

Indian team now ranks at 28 which clearly shows the dismal state of

Indian football.

The women‟s team on the other hand is in a much better position,

ranked at 54 in the world and 11th in Asia.

The following table shows a clear picture of the performance of the

Indian football Team post 1992 when the FIFA rankings were

introduced.

Period FIFA Ranking

March 2012 158

February 2012 154

January 2012 158

2011 162

2010 142


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2009 134

2008 143

2007 143

2006 157

2005 127

2004 132

2003 127

2002 127

2001 121

2000 122

1999 106

1998 110

1997 112

1996 120

1995 121

1994 109

1993 100

As can be observed from the data given above India‟s ranking has

been falling since the establishment of the FIFA ranking system, but

a thing that shouldn‟t be ignored is the fact that the fall in ranking is

largely due to the no of games the Indian football team has been

playing each year compared to the other nations of the world.


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The Great Indian Football Revolution

“The victory of Mohun Bagan, the indigenous team, in the Indian

association football shield, held on Saturday last (July 29) has not

only been the cause of universal jubilation in the country, but has

demonstrated that Indians are second to none in all that manly

games….. The success of Mohun Bagan has turned over a new leaf in

the history of manly sport in Calcutta. The remarkable skill, courage,

and in fact, all that constitutes a good game, and of which Mohun

Bagan has given unmistakable proofs cannot fail to evoke the

sincerest applause from all lovers of football.”

-The Times of India, Bombay, July 30, 1911

Winning the IFA shield in 1911 by Mohun Bagan symbolized the

Great Indian revolution in football.

Jatindranath Roy, Habul Sarkar, Abhilash Ghosh, Bijoydas Badhuri, Shibdas

Bhaduri, Rajendranath Sengupta, Nilamadhab Bhattacharjee, Hiralal

Mukherjee, Monmohan Mukherjee, Sudhir Kumar Chatterjee & Bhuti Sukul.


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Research Methodology

To analyse the causes that led to the fall I have divided the period in

three categories, namely

The Golden Era, 1950- 1964

The Lost Decade‟s, 1965- 1991

A New Beginning, 1992- present

As to the reasoning based on which I have divided the period into the

three specific periods, I shall explain it as I speak more on the time

period and give more statistics on the performance of the Indian

men‟s football team.

Just to give a simple idea behind the division, the 1950s and 1960s

was undoubted the best time to be a footballer in India. The Indian

national team consisted of quality players like

Pradip Kumar Banerjee, Padma Shri (1990), FIFA Indian footballer

of the 20th century

Neville D‟Souza, first Asian player to score a hattrick in Olympics,

joint top scorer 1956 Olympics


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Salien Manna, Padma Shri (1971), named among the 10 best

Captains in the world by the English FA, Footballer of the

millennium by the AIFF

Chuni Goswami, Padma Shri (1983), Best striker of Asia (1962)

Peter Thangaraj, Asia‟s best goalkeeper (1958), Arjuna award (1967)

Jarnail Singh, Captain Asian All-Star team (twice)

Gostha Pal, Padma Shri (1962)

& many others


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The Golden Era, 1950-64

India stepped into the world of international football in 1948, playing

their first ever official international football match against France in

the London Olympics, India lost the game 1-2 but only after missing

two penalties which might be due to the cold English weather and

the fact that the Indian team played bare foot.

After the loss against France, India continued her journey playing 3

successive Olympics, 1952, 1956, 1960, finishing 4th in the 1956

Melbourne Olympics, her highest finish in the Olympics, Indian

forward Neville D‟Souza also became the first Indian and Asian

footballer to score a hattrick in a game in the Olympics a feat that

remained in the Indian trophy chamber for a long time.

The Indian team continued their exploits winning the Asian games/

Asiad gold in 1951 & 1962 and also the Quadrangular Cup four times

in a row from 1952-55.

Competition Success

Olympics

4th place- 1956

Asian Games/ Asiad

Gold- 1951, 1962

Silver- 1954

Bronze- 1970

Asian Nations Cup/ AFC Asian Cup

Runners up- 1964

Quadrangular Cup

Winner- 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955

Merdeka Cup


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Second- 1959, 1964

Third- 1965, 1966

Win Ratio: 63%

Played: 49, Won: 31, Draw: 4, Lost: 14

Going through India‟s record in this period clearly shows the reason

for calling this the golden era of Indian football and analysing it

separately.

The Indian football team has played in the Olympics only four times

and it was in this period, another major achievement for the Indian

football team was the runners up position in the Asian nations cup

which is now the AFC cup, a feat that the Indian team never

repeated again and had failed to qualify for a long time, it was in the

1984 Asian nations cup that India qualified and then in 2012.


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The Lost Decades, 1965-91

As the title suggests, this was indeed a time that was lost, a period

where Indian football was completely ignored and the stars of the

golden generation completely forgotten.

Unlike the period from 1950-64 when the Indian team dominated

Asian football and was competitive beyond Asia, this period saw the

Indian team fail against Asian opponents, team whom India had once

dominated.

Competitions

1982 Asian Games (Hosts)

1984 Asian Nations Cup/ AFC Asian Cup

SAF Games/ South Asian Games

o Gold- 1984, 1987

Taking a look at India‟s performance in competitions shows a true

picture of India‟s failing football culture, the Asian games, a

competition which the Indian team won twice and was always one of

the favourites to win every time the competition took place in the

period from 1950-64, but in the period 1965-91 not only did Indian

never win it again but even failed to qualify by itself, it was only in

1982 that India played the tournament on account of being the host

nation.

The Asian nation‟s cup which was India‟s show of strength when she

was placed second back in 1964, had now become an unconquerable

territory for India and it was only in 1984 that India had qualified for

this tournament.

Win Ratio: (32%)



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Looking at the win ratio clearly shows the drastic change in India‟s

change in fortunes, a drop from a 63% win ratio to almost half of it

32% in the period 1965-91.

This was a critical period for Indian football, had India carried

forward the momentum that was generated by the golden generation

by winning competitions and building Indians reputation in world

football we could have seen a different picture of Indian football

today, but unfortunately the potential that Indian football had was

never recognized and the achievements of some of India‟s greatest

athletes was forgotten and this occurred largely in the period 1965-

91, and it is hence that this period has been analyzed separately to

provide precise inferences and caused for the fall of the giant that

once Indian football was.


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A New Beginning, 1992- present

The year 1991 marked a new beginning for the Indian economy with

the “New economic policy” and it also saw the introduction of one of

India‟s greatest footballers, not just for his on the pitch performance

but majorly for the fact that he made Indian footballers believe that

they were in fact good enough to be playing in the best football

leagues in the world, ladies and gentleman this period was the rise of

the sikkimese sniper and in the world of another Indian legend

I.M.Vijayan “God‟s gift to Indian football”, Bhaichung Bhutia.

Competitions

SAARC Cup/ SAFF Cup

Winner- 1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011

Runners up- 1995, 2008

Third Place- 2003

Afro Asian Games

Silver- 2003

LG Cup

Winner- 2002

Nehru Cup

Winner- 2007, 2009

AFC Challenge Cup

Winner- 2008

A lot had changed in Indian football when compared to the period

1964-91, the Indian team had again started winning competitions at

Asian level, winning the Nehru cup has now become a habit for the

Indian team, but some of the major achievements of the Indian team

since 1992 till date has been the silver medal at the 2003 afro Asian

games under Englishman Stephen Constantine where the Indian


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team beat African teams ranked like Rwanda which were ranked

quite higher than India.

Win ratio: (37%)


Compared to the lost decades the Indian football team improved their

win ratio slightly to 37% from the previous 32%, but in terms of

performance there was drastic change given the many competition

victories even if at only Asian level, the Indian team also qualified for

the 2012 AFC cup by the virtue of winning the AFC challenge cup,

but the Indian team failed to make a mark for themselves in the

competition which they were runners up back in 1964 and lost all

three of their group stage games and failed to qualify for further

rounds.


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Factors leading to the fall

The reasons that were responsible for the strangling of Indian

football in the lost decades from 1965-91 are pretty obvious but to

really analyse the impact of each cause has been the objective of this

master‟s thesis, but unfortunately due to lack of availability of data,

incomplete records the analysis that I would present further is more

of a qualitative analysis rather than the preferred quantitative

analysis.

Many reasons can be pointed out for the decline in Indian football

from the glory years of 1950-64, to put it simply in worlds

Lack of infrastructure, proper planning and support system for

junior level footballers

International exposure

Government and sponsor backing

Closure of popular tournaments and public sector teams

Politics behind football

Were the crude reasons for the fall of Indian football but the scope of

this thesis has been beyond such crude reasons.

The factors that I have analysed in great detail in the later part of

this report are

Investment in Indian Football

Revenue Structure

Regional Dominance

Unstable National structure

Although various other reasons might be or should be considered

when talking about the decline in Indian football but specifically due

to limitations on the data available on Indian football, only the above

noted reasons will be discussed in detail as we proceed.

Before we go in analysing each factor presented I present a

comparative analysis of two sports, cricket & football and the role


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played by the government, media& corporates and their attitudes

towards the two sports.

This is one of the most crucial elements in understanding the reasons

for the state of development at which each of the sport has reached.

Each section of society has played a part in the development of sports

in India, at one end is the cricket, which has been the favourite

brown eyed boy of all Indians including the government, media and

the corporates, their intentions and attitude clearly shown in the way

cricket is managed, funded and covered in India and on the other

hand is crickets poor cousin, football, who has been ignored by a

majority of the population in India.

The following table aims to show the vast distinctions between the

two sports and their culture in India.

Football Cricket

Association Gatekeeper The apex body for football

in India, the AIFF has been always acting as a

gatekeeper where it only decides whom it wants to

let go and who not, it has failed to take up a

proactive role in the development of football in india.

CEO The BCCI on the other

hand has been like a shrewd CEO. Knowing

where to look for resources, how to take

advantage of opportunities and how to

build a strong brand. The sharp management has lead the way for Cricket

and played a pivotal role in its success.

Government Indifferent

The government's

negligence and indifference to the

development of football can be observed at multiple times during the

history of the sport even

Nurturing Parent

For Cricket, the

government has always been there. Whether it is

the State Governments offering free houses for cricketers or the Central

Government rewarding


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when the team has been doing well.

the players even when they failed to perform.

Media Mythical

Media for domestic

football has been like a mythical creature. All the veterans have always

hoped and expected media to come in and

support the sport but media's support for the

game has never ever existed.

God

Media has always kept its

blessing hand on the head of Cricket, with separate TV channels becoming

dedicated to a single sport.

Corporate Partner

Corporates' presence in domestic football has

always been there whether to gain mileage

or out of management's own interest in the game.

Sweetheart

Pouring money into Cricket has been the

biggest PR/ad campaigns for the corporate in the

country.


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Investment in Indian Football

Looking at the tenth five year plan that covered 2003/04- 2007-08,

the budget allocation for sports was $500 million, about

5,00,00,00,000 i.e. 500 crores per annum for all sports in India and

this included the expenditure to spent on sports infrastructure as

well as all other expenses.

For the year 2009/10 the budget allocation was $500 million but

again this was largely to finance the expenditure related to the Delhi

commonwealth games and by now everyone knows the efficiency at

which those funds were spent.

To focus directly on the government expenditure on football in India,

the annual budget allocation to the AIFF is presented below.

Year Budget Allocation

2007/08 0.68

2008/09 0.52

2009/10 0.42

2010/11 1.25

*Rs. In Crores

Looking at the figures above clearly shows the lack of interest and

commitment shown by the government of India towards the

development of football in India.

Since due to unavailability of investment data of prior years,

investment in Indian football shall be analysed based on the growth

of football infrastructure.

To understand and interpret the investment in football and its

efficiency I have categorized it in the following categories.

Competitions

Clubs

Youth Academies

Stadiums


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National Football League

It was in 1996/97 that an all India football league was started in

India, prior to the national football league the only major

tournaments that clubs participated in were the

Durand cup

Federation cup

IFA Shield

State football leagues

Other than these competitions, football clubs in India had no major

competition to take part in, also Indian football clubs got the

opportunity to play against other Asian football clubs only after

establishment of the national league in competitions such as the AFC

Champions league and the AFC Cup, although the IFA shield had

foreign teams participating, it had very limited exposure with only a

handful of Indian clubs able to participate in the competition and the

no of foreign teams being just about one each year.

The lack of a proper national level football league was one of the most

important reason for the under development of a football structure in

India.

The lack of a stable and a year round football league till 1995/96 was

a key reason for the lack of investment in development of the sports

at grass root level by the private sector, which in the process reflected

in the dismal growth and performance of Indian footballers in the

period 1965-1991.

Lack of national level football league>>Under

developed football clubs>>Inadequate

facilities>>Unsatisfactory performance in

competitions>>Absence of stable revenue

streams & sponsorships>>No investment in

development of clubs


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Football Clubs

Till date a total of 41 football clubs have taken part in the national

level league that was established back in 1995/96 under the name of

the Indian national football league.

Club Established

1 Dempo SC 1968

2 Churchill Brothers SC 1988

3 Salgaocar SC 1956

4 Vasco SC 1951

5 Sporting Clube de Goa 1999

6 SESA 1999

7 East Bengal FC 1920

8 Mohun Bagan AC 1889

9 Palian Arrows 2010

10 Mohammedan SC 1891

11 Prayag United 1927

12 Bhawanipore FC 2010

13 Kalighat FC 1922

14 Southern Samity 1945

15 Techno Aryan 1884

16 Air India 1952

17 Mumbai FC 2007

18 Mahindra United 1962-2010

19 Pune F C 2007

20 Kenkre 2000

21 PIFA 2006

22 JCT FC 1971-2011

23 HAL SC 2006

24 KGF Academy 2011

25 FC Kochin 1998-2002

26 Chirag United Club Kerala 2004

27 Eagles FC 2010

28 Golden Threads FC 2010

29 Quartz SC 1976

30 Shillong Lajhong FC 1983

31 Ar-Hima 1987

32 Langsning 1900


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33 Royal Wahingdoh FC 2006

34 Indian Bank NA

35 Gauhati Town Club 1906

36 Green Valley FC 2010

37 Simla Youngs 1936

38 Aizawal FC 1984

39 Luangmual 1955

40 Samaleswari SC NA

41 United Sikkim 2008

Looking at the date of establishments of football clubs supports my

hypothesis on investment in Indian football.

The fact that India didn‟t have a national level football league had

deep repercussions than one could imagine, the absence of a football

league limited investment in the development of sports

infrastructure in the sense that there was no incentive to invest in

building new football clubs as there were hardly any competitions

that the clubs would participate in and the possibility to break-even

the investment seemed remote.

Period No of football clubs %

Pre 1964 14 37%

1965-1995 6 16%

Post 1996 16 42%

Of the total 41 clubs that have participated in the national level

football league till date, 3 are now defunct, 14 of them were created

prior to 1965, and 16 post 1996, only 6 football clubs were created in

the period 1965-96, which supports my hypothesis of the lack of

investment in football infrastructure by the private sector.

The figures also support the hypothesis that, after the establishment

of a national level football league investment in Indian football rose

and is shown in the increased number of football clubs established

post 1996.


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Youth Academies

Before we go into the details of youth academies in India it is

important to understand the importance of investing in building

football youth academies and to understand their importance I

present a case study of Barcelona football clubs youth academy, La

Masia.

La Masia: the story of Barcelona's Swordsmith In an age when Clubs across Europe are run by American tycoons,

Russian & Arab oligarchs, player transfer have become the whole and

soul of team building, the success of a Club now depends on the money

that a Club can spend and even after millions of dollars are spent

rarely has a Club enforced its domination. But in recent years

Barcelona has redefined success and has been a Dominant Force in

World football by winning the La Liga five times in seven years and

thrice in a row, the Champions League three times in six years and

Barcelona did it with the strength of the players from their youth

academy, La Masia.

In 2010, La Masia achieved a record breaking honour becoming the

first Youth academy in the World to have all three finalists for

the Ballon d'Or in the same year, with Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi &

Xavi Hernández, This was only the third time in the history of

the Ballon d'Or that one team has provided all three players for the

final three positions, and the first time that all three finalists came

from one Youth academy, Messi then became the first player from La

Masia to win the Ballon d'Or , and also went on to win the FIFA

World Player of the year.

La Masia has not just benefitted Barcelona but also Spain with seven

player, and six of them in the starting eleven: Gerard Piqué, Carles

Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Sergio Busquets & Pedro

Rodríguez when Spain won the World Cup 2010. A Reuters report

suggested that Spain's World Cup success was possibly due to La

Masia, other factors mentioned were Economic Development and luck.

http://www.thesportscampus.com/2011053013296/european-news/la-masia-the-story-of-barcelonas-swordsmith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballon_d%27Or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_Iniesta

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Messi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballon_d%27Or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Player

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Player


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Joachim Löw, coach of Germany after his side's defeat by Spain in the

World Cup 2010 said “how Spain plays is how Barcelona plays”.

Player from the La Masia in the current Barcelona squad include

Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Bojan Krkić, Lionel

Messi, Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Pedro Rodríguez & Víctor Valdés,

some other notable players from La Masia playing football currently

are Mikel Arteta (Everton), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Thiago Motta

(Internazionale) & Pepe Reina (Liverpool).

It all began when Barcelona legend and honorary president Johan

Cruyff in 1979 proposed to then president Josep Núñez to develop a

Youth academy in line with the Ajax Academy. Guillermo Amor was

one of the first to graduate from La Masia, he went on to play 311

League games for Barcelona, other to follow were Carles Busquets and

Josep Guardiola who then became part of the Barcelona Dream Team

under Johan Cruyff .

La Masia was an old country residence built in 1702, purchased by

Barcelona in 1954, La Masia was then used as a workshop for the

architects and builders of its new stadium, Camp Nou, After the

Camp Nou was inaugurated on 24 September 1957, La Masia was

closed down, later the building was remodelled, extended and

reopened as an office for the club's headquarters but it could not keep

up with the Clubs growth and it was remodelled to house a youth

academy for players coming from outside of Barcelona an then finally

converted into what it is now.

Though La Masia has been an integral part of Barcelona’s recent

success the credit must also in large go to current manager Josep

Guardiola. It was back in 2007 when Guardiola was appointed the

coach of Barcelona B when the team was relegated to the fourth tier of

Spanish football and was in complete disarray, by the time Guardiola

had completed his reorganization, Barcelona B was playing in the

second tier Segunda, the top-tier for a reserve team. La Masia then

made a name for itself with Barcelona B’s success thanks to the

strength of home grown players, The Daily Telegraph claims that La

Masia has replaced the fabled Ajax Academy as football's foremost

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Amor


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production line. In over 30 years of it inauguration LA Masia has

provided for more than 500 youngsters from all over the world but

mostly from Catalonia & about 10% of them have made it to the

Barcelona first team.

Guardiola was later appointed the Manager of Barcelona to replace

Frank Rijkaard in 2008/09. Guardiola guided Barcelona to a

Spanish treble in his first Season, a first in Spanish football history

and also became the youngest manager then to win the Champions

League. Guardiola continued his winning ways with two La liga’s, 2

Champions Leagues, one Copa del Rey, one UEFA super cup and a

Fifa Club World Cup.

Guardiola & Barcelona have shown the importance of building a

team with home grown players rather building a team by buying

world class player and UEFA, Michel Platini was right when he said

"Barcelona represent my philosophy, not only for the game, but also

for the training of athletes”.

The following article clearly shows how a football club and a nation

could benefit from a world class football academy, to put the benefits

in bullets form

Home-Grown Players

Transfer Fee Gains/ Savings

Domestic fan base

Club Performance

Trickle-down effect on the national team performance

Now taking a look at the youth development programs in India, the

major youth academies in India are

Tata Football Academy*, 1987

JCT, 1998

Sesa, 1999


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Pune FC, 2011

Mohun Bagan AC, 2003, 2009

Dempo

In a country with 1.2 billion people India lacks the number of youth

academies to develop football at grass root level in India, with just a

handful of youth academies India has a severe shortage of mediums

to develop football talent in India. Ironically none of the football

academies that exist in India are financed or managed by the

government to make matters worse only a handful of clubs that

participate in the National league have their own academies which is

again opposite of traditional football club culture around the world,

on average almost all football clubs in major football nations have

their own football academies to provide for youth talent.

Taking a closer look shows that only one football academy namely the

Tata football academy was established in the period 1965-91 which

again supports put hypothesis of lack of investment in the lost

decades and the hypothesis that the establishment of a national

league incentivised investment in football in India.


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Stadiums

The next major components of football infrastructure are the

stadiums. According to traditional football club culture football clubs

normally own their own stadiums but in the Indian context the

trends changes again, none of the 41 football clubs that have till date

participated in the national league own their own football stadiums.

The national football league is played at the following six venues all

build by the government. Of the 6 venues only 2 are certified by FIFA

& AFC for the facilities and condition, another thing to notice is the

fact that the two venues that are certified were only recently

upgraded and renovated.

Stadium Location Capacity Pitch

Type

Tenants

Balewadi

Sports Complex

Pune 20,000 Grass Pune FC

Jawaharlal

Nehru Stadium

Kochi 60,000 Grass Chirag United

Fatorda Stadium

Margao 27,300 Grass Churchill Brothers,

Dempo, Salgaocar, Sporting Clube de

Goa

Salt Lake

Stadium

Kolkata 1,20,000 Astro

turf

Mohun Bagan,

East Bengal, Palian Arrows,

Prayag United

Bangalore Football

Stadium

Bangalore 15,000 Astroturf

HAL


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Jawaharlal

Nehru Stadium

Shillong 25,000 Grass Shillong Lajhong


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Revenue Structure

Before we go into analysing the revenue structure of Indian football

clubs it is important to understand the working of a football club i.e.

the business cycle of football clubs.

As the business cycle clearly shows good performance by football

clubs in the sense that winning matches and competitions will

increase their fan base which will make them attractive destinations

for investments by corporates and gain sponsorships, this in turn will

increase the revenues of the football clubs by which it can reward its

player with high salaries, better non playing staff and other facilities

and also make available funds to invest in developing and attracting

youth talent at the football club which would in the future translate

into better performance and thus the cycle would continue.

Given below is the breakdown of revenues of English, Italian and

German football clubs.

English Italian German

Commercial 28% 25% 53% Match Day 35% 14% 25%

Broadcasting 37% 61% 22%

Crowd Support

Sponsorships

Investments

Future Prospects

Performance


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Now taking a look at the break down of revenues of Indian football

clubs.

Commercial

No Club store/ Café/ Commercial Infrastructure

No Merchandising

Minimal sponsorship revenues

Match Day Revenues

0- negligible Season Ticket Sales

Ticket Price: Rs.50-200

Average Attendance: 3913

Broadcasting

2007: Zee Sports 10 year deal, Terminated in 2010

2010/11: TV deal only for Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, United

Sports Club

2011/12: Ten Sports, Live Telecast: 75/182 Games (41%)

Defunct Clubs

Mahindra United (2010)

JCT (2011)

FC Kochin (2002)

This clearly shows how Indian football clubs struggle to make ends

meet, Indian football clubs do not have a stable revenue structure.

Indian football clubs unlike other football clubs have negligible

match day and broadcasting revenues unlike their European

counterparts who have these sources contributing a major part of

their revenues.


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Sponsorships

In terms of commercial revenues again Indian clubs struggle to

attract sponsors and a major reason is their performance which again

is a function of investment in football.

Although the trend has been changing in recent times, still Indian

football clubs have a long way to go in terms of becoming profitable.

It is estimated that 80% Indian football club revenues come from

sponsorships, given below are the sponsorships of some major football

clubs in India.

Air India- Air India, Star Impact

Chirag United- Chirag Computers

Churchill Brothers- Churchill, Adidas

Dempo- Dempo, Nike

East Bengal- Kingfisher, Nivia, Bluechip Projects, Saradha Realty,

CMRI, Pearless, Rose Valley

HAL- HAL

Mohun Bagan- McDowells, Adidas, Amra Remedies

Mumbai FC- Ten HD, Adidas

Palian Arrows- Palian

Prayag United- Prayag Group

Pune FC- Piramal Group, Peninsula, Adidas, Infosys, HerbalLife,

Golds Gym

Salgaocar- Salgaocar

Shillong Lajhong- Aircel, Adidas, Kingfisher

Sporting Clube de Goa- Models, Adidas


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As can be seen clearly most of the major Indian clubs fail to attract

good sponsors and have been struggling to balance their annual

statements.


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Prize Money

Given below is the prize money structure of the national league.

Prize Money

Winner – Rs.50,00,000

Runners up- Rs.28,00,000

Rs.2,50,000 for participation in U19 League

Rs.2,50,000 for Administrative Staff

90% Gate Receipts

Rs.35,000 for Match win

As can be clearly seen from these numbers, the prize money is

negligible in terms of the expenditure the football clubs undertake in

the running the club.

A under prized competition fails to attract competition which in turn

affects the visibility and exposure of the competition and this in turn

affect the competitions sponsorship which then affects the prize

money.


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Regional Biasedness

A key factor behind the dismal state of Indian football has been the

lack of fan following in the sport. Unlike traditional football clubs

which have huge fan following which result in better sponsorships,

Indian football clubs fail to attract the attention of the majority of the

population.

This has been a constant phenomenon in Indian football, there have

always been only a handful of football clubs and some particular

regions where there had been a strong fan base in India, the rest of

the country had been literally ignorant of the sport in India.

The most important parameter based on which a clubs fan base can

be measures is the success that the club has achieved. It has been

observed traditionally that clubs based in Goa and Bengal have

always had a stronger fan base as compared to all other clubs in the

country, to understand the reason behind this phenomenon let‟s look

at the success stories of the Goan & Bengal clubs.

Season Winner

1996/97 JCT FC

1997/98 Mohun Bagan

1998/99 Salgaocar

1999/2000 Mohun Bagan AC

2000/01 East Bengal

2001/02 Mohun Bagan

2002/03 East Bengal

2003/04 East Bengal

2004/05 Dempo

2005/06 Mahindra United

2006/07 Dempo

2007/08 Dempo

2008/09 Churchill

2009/10 Dempo

2010/11 Salgaocar

2011/12 Dempo


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National Level Football League Winners

Goa: 7

Bengal: 6

Maharashtra: 1

Punjab: 1

Last 5 Seasons: Goa

It can be clearly seen from the above numbers why the Goan and

Bengal clubs attract such strong fan support. Of the 15 seasons of

national football league that took place till date 13 have been won by

clubs based in Bengal and Goa.

NFL: Mohun Bagan (3/11), East Bengal (3/11), Dempo (2/11)

I League: Dempo (2/5)

Federation Cup: Mohun Bagan (13/33), East Bengal (7/33),

Salgaocar (4)

Durand Cup: Mohun Bagan (18)

IFA Shield: East Bengal (27)

The above statistics clearly show why only a handful of football clubs,

the likes of Mohun Bagan, East Bengal & Dempo have managed to

attract strong fan support and sponsorships.


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Club Locations

Another factor that has also influenced regional dominance in Indian

football is the locations of the football clubs.

Overall Post 2000

North 1 (3%) 0

South 7 (18%) 5 (36%)

West 11 (29%) 4 (29%)

East 10 (26%) 2 (14%)

North East 9 (24%) 3 (21%)

Not only have most of the successful clubs based in the west (Goa)

and the east (Bengal) regions but also in absolute terms majority of

the clubs are based in these regions.

To further look into this factor of regional dominance

Football Clubs in only 13 states

No clubs in Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP, UP, Bihar, AP, etc. 15 states


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National Squad Composition

State wise

o Goa: 13

o Bengal: 12

o Maharashtra: 4

o Sikkim: 1

Club wise

o Dempo: 5

o Salgaocar: 3

o Churchill Brothers: 4

o Mohun Bagan: 6

o East Bengal: 4

o Prayag United: 1

o Palian Arrows: 1

o Pune FC: 3

o Air India: 1

o United Sikkim: 1

These statistics clearly show that specific regions have dominated

football in India and this has led to the uneven growth of the sport in

India. The fact that there clubs from only 13 states have participated

in the national league show the ignorance that exists in india

relating to the sports and this in turn has been hampering the

development of the sport in the country.


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Unstable National Structure

One of the major reasons for the decline or the stunted growth of

Indian football has been the absence or rather the unstable structure

of Indian football competitions especially the national league.

The absence of a national league has been a major reason for the

stunted growth of Indian football in the period 1965-91. The absence

of a national competition affected the investment in the sport which

in turn affected the development of talent which was then the key

reason for the dismal performance of the Indian club and national

football teams in domestic and international competitions.

To take a look at the unstable structure of competitions in India let‟s

take a look at the changing pattern of the national league since its

inception in 1995/96.

National Football League

1996/97- 2 Stage, 12 Teams

1997/98- 10 Teams

1998/99- 2 Stage, 12 Teams

1999/2000- 2004/05 - 12 Teams

2005/06-2006/07- 10 Teams

I league

2007/08: 10 Teams

2008/09: 12 Teams

2009/10- 2011/12: 14 teams

2012/13- Expected to Change

In the 15 seasons of the national league, the competition has been

changed 8 times. This structural inconsistency has affected the

performance of clubs as well as sponsorships.


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Conclusion

It was the victory of the Mohun Bagan team in 1911 that sparked the

football revolution in India through Bengal and till date Kolkata

remains the Mecca of Indian football.

The football revolution that followed the first victory by an Indian

team over a foreign team which then went on to win the IFA shield

led to an outburst of talent in Indian football with fantastic players

and coaches. This outburst of talent is clearly seen in the golden era

of Indian football in the period 1950-64 but the post this period

Indian football saw a steep decline and it was only after 1992 that

Indian football started to recover from a long period of ignorance.

India doesn‟t have the talent or the resources to make the scoreboard

shine, we lack quality at each section of the field, but we certainly

qualify to be a team or a nation gifted with decent sporting talent.

The Indian football national team is not going to qualify for the world

cup if we do not let go of our obsession with the problems at the grass

root level structure. Our biggest problem is not that we haven‟t got

talent but rather that we fail to use optimally what lies in our

backyard, we think only a super talent can change our fortunes and

for his birth we wait, we hope for the next Maradona or Pelé to be

born in India and so we keep dreaming.

The key ingredient to winning games in sports is not talent, its team

work, a word that only stays on our drawing boards and our

criticisms.

Why is Barcelona the best team in the world at the moment? And

why is Manchester city the most hated club in the world? well

Barcelona‟s got Messi is what everyone would think, everyone fails to

see what a wonder pep Guardiola has built, the Pique-Puyol wall in

defence, Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets creating magic in the midfield,

everyone fails to see the chemistry he‟s build in the team, Barcelona

for me is the best way to define a team willing to die for each other

and Manchester city is what you get when you get inspired my Bill

James‟s work on baseball. Statistical analysis is a great way to build


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teams and predict the future but it‟s important to put heart into

numbers because football isn‟t just about how many goals you can

score or concede… it‟s about grits. You can‟t just buy eleven players

who will concede the least and score the most goals, you have to build

such a team and it can be done without a monstrosity of talent you

just need to make the right moves.

Remember Greece winning the Euro, take a look at teams like

Everton who have always been in the top ten in the Premier League

consistently, better yet take a look at Newcastle this season, they

haven‟t got best talent in England but yet you'd find them in the top

6, wonder why?

Getting back to India, we cannot build a thousand youth academies

to develop talent from its birth, nor can we improve the

organizational structure to match the world‟s finest, what we can do

is rather than adopting the world acclaimed formations or match

strategies and instead of running after the football culture of

successful nations and try to replicate their models, build a culture of

our own use statistical analysis and mix it up with some

psychological fine tuning.

We haven‟t got world class technique at our disposal but we can win

games just by simply improving the team passing rate and for that

you get back to the magic word team chemistry, yet again rather

than pushing all eleven players at one go, tear the team in to pieces

and then aim at efficiency. Develop the center backs-goalkeeper,

winger-full back, center midfielders and lastly the forwards units

separately and then fit all the pieces together, it is easier for player

to get close and adapt to another if it done one at a time than trying

to make all eleven sing the same tune together at the same time. A

team that makes the least mistakes is the team that wins, improving

efficiency & and accuracy or rather simply, error minimization must

be out motto.

India cannot play like world-class teams but we can always ensure

we make less or as many mistakes as a winning team.


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For too long now has the Indian football economy been ignored as a

market to be invested in & monetized, the lack of talent & interest

being the expressed and obvious reasons but the 21 st century has

brought with it the much anticipated and desperately needed change

with increased and rapid rise in interest in the sport that once

brought glory to this mighty nation, Investment in the sport is on the

rise with the incentive to commercialize and position brands in a 1.4

billion strong economy attracting worldwide interests.

Indian football is on the rise and before making ambitious plans for a

bright future of Indian football it is essential to understand the

reasons that led to the decline in Indian football and this has been

the primary objective of this master‟s thesis.


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The Road Ahead

Indian football seems to be heading for a brighter, and some of the

factors that promise a better tomorrow include

Proposed Bid for U17 FIFA World Cup 2017/2019

National Level League- New Format Based on the lines of Major

League Soccer (USA)

Proposed two tier 16 team League to be announced on 20th April

Youth Development Programs

FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, Bayern Munich,

Manchester City, etc. have already made investments in India in

the form of commercial structures and youth academies with more

to follow.

Increased Sponsorships & Corporate culture

Pune FC, Mumbai FC have been at the forefront at present in

attracting corporate sponsorships and have also been the pioneers

in professional management of the club.


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Bibliography

Books

History of Indian Football by Nirmal Nath

A Social History of Indian Football: Striving to Score by Boria

Majumdar, Kausik Bandyopadhyay

Stories from Indian Football by Basu J

Websites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_national_football_team

http://tejas-iimb.org/articles/33.php

http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=ind/index.html

http://www.the-aiff.com/

Articles

Talent Identification and Development in Indian Football by John

Hammond

From recreation to competition: Early history of Indian football

Uncovering the Sleeping Giant syndrome: India in Olympic

football by Kausik Bandyopadhyay

Goalless, the Story of a Unique Footballing Nation by Majumdar,

Boria, Bandyopadhyay, Kausik.

1911 in Retrospect: A Revisionist Perspective on a Famous Indian

Sporting Victory by Kausik Bandyopadhyay

Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889-2000

by Novy Kapadia

How Gavaskar killer Indian Football by Satadru Sen