the goan I network
DOHA, QATAR
India has a lot of talented footballers and a day is not far off when one among them will play in one of the major leagues of the world, Delhi Dynamos chairman Dr Anil Sharma said during a cultural gathering hosted by the Indian Super League team in Doha on Sunday.
Speaking at a dinner co-hosted by Aspire Academy, Qatar -- the technical partners of the ISL club -- Sharma said: “Indian players are talented. With the help of foreign coaches and leading academies like Aspire, in the next 5 years more than one player will play in a major foreign league of the world. Imagine what happens to Indian football at that time. The jump in Indian audiences will be absolutely extraordinary.”
The Indian-born US citizen, a former university professor turned businessman, was addressing a meeting which was attended by the Indian Ambassador to Qatar, P Kumaran, Ivan Bravo, Director General of Aspire Academy, and many Indian businessmen, besides the whole squad of Delhi Dynamos, who are on a pre-season tour in the country.
Sharma said his investment is sports aims to focus on the youth and provide them a channel to look ahead of a bright future.
“India is a young country. Young adults need options in their primary source of entertainment other than music, movies, cricket and digital entertainment. Given the diversity and size of population, the exposure of the youth had to be on physical activities and more importantly in global sports. Football is the biggest sport in the world. Few months ago, almost half of the world watched FIFA world cup. No other sport comes closer,” he added.
The potential for growth of football in India is phenomenal, he added. “About 175 million people watched the ISL last year. As a country of few sports which has been dominated by the IPL and cricket, Indian youth are gravitating towards football. In fact, I believe that the opportunity for growth of football will be a phenomenon of historic proportions.”
And more growth is projected in the next five years, he said. “I know what I say sounds unbelievable exaggeration, but when you look back at the history of sports and nations, the uniqueness of sports in India and compare it with the emerging technologies in the delivery of sports, the passion that sports ignites and moving from one main sport of cricket to global sports like football, the growth projection makes sense. Once, we reach this tipping point, which we predict in the next 5 years, the sky is the limit,” he said.
