The Indian national team currently is in Dubai where the head coach Igor Stimac has set up a camp for the Blue Tigers to train and get ready for their upcoming friendly matches against UAE and Oman.
Stimac who is now very well accustomed to Indian football heaped praises on the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for their tireless efforts behind the scenes in order to develop football in the country.
Therefore in his recent interaction with AIFF TV he emphasised the importance of the work and feels that it will pay off soon.
“People who see Indian football, they only see ISL or the national team playing but they cannot see those things happening behind the scenes, what we are doing with the grassroots program, the baby leagues with the youth development program. This work will be seen very soon. It is being seen already with those youngsters coming through Indian Arrows. Last season, we sent my staff to help the Indian Arrows side. Venkatesh is in charge there who is my first assistant. Some of the players who came through this work last season to the ISL, were recognised as very talented and ready to play in the ISL,” said the Croatian coach.
The Croatian tactician also replied to his critics after not keeping track of the I-League as he added that his assistant Shanmugam Venkatesh was present and he keeps a watch at the statistics. He also assured that the national team’s doors are not shut for any I-League player.
“Some people were worried that I didn’t follow the I-League this year but I have Venkatesh there and he is involved in every single game so I have great numbers, statistics from the I-League. That is the way we follow. ISL is the professional part of Indian football, it is very well organised and from this part, the players are coming to the national team.
“From the I-League, because it has a lower quality of football, I consider the I-League for now as a filter for the ISL. It is a platform where young Indian players develop, grow and get recognised by ISL clubs and signed by them. Which doesn’t mean that some of the I-League players can’t get on the national team list,” said the India coach.
Lastly speaking about the new wave of football in India he highlighted the importance of the Golden Baby Leagues which is a Baby League project of the AIFF. He felt that the leagues have helped football to grow in India in the last couple of years.
“Baby Leagues are how football starts. It helped massively to boost the promotion of football in India. I think last year we handled over 30,000 games in this league all over India. A year before that it was 12,000 games. It will only go up. Football is becoming very popular. It takes time, but we need to be very confident about what we do, how we handle this, we need to be honest and give chance to the youngster to play football,” Stimac concluded.
