Grassroots in Sports & Development

Grassroots in Football & Development

Grassroots Football in India

Indian football is hoping for a better future then as hosts of the upcoming 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup it gives India the much needed push to set its house in order in regard to overall youth development.

But what does this mean for the development of football in India

at the grassroots level?

Does this mean better structure in a developmental football

pyramid?

Grassroots Football in India

Through the Lakshya 2022 program, the AIFF technical director Rob Baan has created a first-ever roadmap for football development in India with a focus on youth development

But the program's main focus is on Elite Players Development

from the age group of 12 to 19 years

In a positive, it has lead to the creation of the AIFF Regional

Academies & the AIFF Elite Academy for Under-19 boys!

Grassroots Football in India

AIFF grassroots program has been initiated by the federation which it is trying to spread it out across the country

But it does not address the issues of grassroots football

development in non-registered clubs and organisations

not all state football associations across the country are seeing

the need for youth development

further the program currently sees little to no integration of

private initiatives into the official federation system

Grassroots Football in India

currently this program is restricted to certain pockets, it isn't inclusive and does not really reach the masses, which should be the aim of all of the AIFF’s initiatives across India.

These programs shouldn’t just be about a hand-picked number

of boys going through a proper youth development system

but rather as many children as possible playing the beautiful

game of football with the best filtered through the system from

the bottom to the top in a pyramid structure

Grassroots Football in India

India needs a grassroots program which is spread across the length and breadth of the country

the country needs a program which goes into schools, football

nurseries (training centres, football schools, academies), works

with NGOs, children in rural India and areas which are difficult to

access then talent knows no boundaries

millions of children (boys/girls), across from 6 to 12 years need to

be a part of the program with the best scouted by qualified

coaches for further camps at the local, district, state, regional

and national level

Grassroots Football in India

This way the development pyramid could take shape, but results should not be expected overnight as development of such a program would need seven to 10 years, if not even more

it also should be clear that the above program, if implemented in

India would need big financial support and the appropriate

manpower to run and implement such a nationwide program

there would be a need for thousands of AFC ‘D’ and ‘C’ licence

coaches, who could then run the program.