We do not have players with aggressive attitude. I know I should not say this but it seems to me that we are no longer producing confident, cocky players who have the edge and will to keep scoring. Our former national team strikers irrespective of their technical short comings had the attitude to go out and perform. Chhangte does exhibit that will and hunger each time despite being a winger. Otherwise our team does not have those individual players who just want to go score goals. We seem to produce well behaved mid's and defenders who are calm all the time and happy with what are doing. But that seems to be the pattern for me.
We are talking about attitude but problem remains same. If you do not get chances in your top league then from where that confidence is going to come. Baichung got his chance at 16 years in EB and continued getting playing time. Do you see that now a days? Contrary to most I prefer lesser foreign players in startingveleven so that we rae forced to play them, otherwise forget confidence. Let's see, Ishan had an excellent first couple of seasons, so why he did not get further chances. Bidyasagar hardly played even afyer being highestvscorer in ileague. Dont tell me ileague is second division shit.
I do agree with you partially. But when those players are performing well at I-League I still see most of them as not so confident. Well playing time helps and Ishan of all cannot complain that he did not get the playing time. Kiyyan cannot complain that he did not get the playing time. There is countless other instances. There are some players even when given opportunities don't seem to grab it. They are happy as soon as a big money contract comes from ISL. They seem to have a mentality that they have made it. Many say even Bidya was ruined by ISL and it can be partly true. But we should know that he made that choice. He moved to BFC, then moved to KBFC and now to Punjab. He hardly seems to be able to crack it. He is 26. Like he should be furious to go play football and prove others wrong. That is missing in our players. that is all I am complaining about. How long can these players play victim? They should change their attitude a bit and go prove elsewhere.
We do not have players with aggressive attitude. I know I should not say this but it seems to me that we are no longer producing confident, cocky players who have the edge and will to keep scoring. Our former national team strikers irrespective of their technical short comings had the attitude to go out and perform. Chhangte does exhibit that will and hunger each time despite being a winger. Otherwise our team does not have those individual players who just want to go score goals. We seem to produce well behaved mid's and defenders who are calm all the time and happy with what are doing. But that seems to be the pattern for me.
We are talking about attitude but problem remains same. If you do not get chances in your top league then from where that confidence is going to come. Baichung got his chance at 16 years in EB and continued getting playing time. Do you see that now a days? Contrary to most I prefer lesser foreign players in startingveleven so that we rae forced to play them, otherwise forget confidence. Let's see, Ishan had an excellent first couple of seasons, so why he did not get further chances. Bidyasagar hardly played even afyer being highestvscorer in ileague. Dont tell me ileague is second division shit.
I do agree with you partially. But when those players are performing well at I-League I still see most of them as not so confident. Well playing time helps and Ishan of all cannot complain that he did not get the playing time. Kiyyan cannot complain that he did not get the playing time. There is countless other instances. There are some players even when given opportunities don't seem to grab it. They are happy as soon as a big money contract comes from ISL. They seem to have a mentality that they have made it. Many say even Bidya was ruined by ISL and it can be partly true. But we should know that he made that choice. He moved to BFC, then moved to KBFC and now to Punjab. He hardly seems to be able to crack it. He is 26. Like he should be furious to go play football and prove others wrong. That is missing in our players. that is all I am complaining about. How long can these players play victim? They should change their attitude a bit and go prove elsewhere.
They can prove elsewhere but where is the reward? Recognition, monetary benefit what is it they get playing Ileague nowadays? By default any layers next step after proving in ileague is isl, dont you think that's a progressive state? Or we want players to continuously prove in ileague, are they called to the national team?
yes I do believe from ileague they can try to go to league abroad, maybe in some of th asian leagues, but why will they be inducted there? Which players will you chose let's say from Nepal/ Afghanistan etc who are ranked below India- from their top division or lower? We have a lot of ideas but start thinking on this a bit. We are not Brazil/spain/european or top asian countries that players even from 5/6 division will be entertained in leagues elsewhere.
The only way probably of going abroad would be in academies outside at a much lower age. That's a possibility albeit still it's hard considering the current disposition of indian football. And yes those who have money , even without talent, can of course travel.
@souravindia I do not agree on the part about Ishan Pandita, on what basis exactly did he have good 2 seasons initially, he has total playing time of 1464 minutes over the 4 seasons, many of the players clock more that in a single season. Ivan had criticized other coaches about not giving chances to Indian strikers when KB signed Pandita. and yet Pandita didn't get much time on pitch, and that is most probably because Vucomanovic realized that he is a shit player.
Football, the world’s most popular sport, has made no inroads into India’s Hindi heartland; 90% top players come from 9 states
LIKE HIS predecessors, FIFA president Gianni Infantino was left searching for answers during a visit to India in October 2022. “It’s a country of more than 1.3 billion, so there must be enough talent in India,” he remarked.
It wasn’t the first time a direct correlation was made between the country’s burgeoning population and its sporting success, or the lack of it. Seen through this prism, India’s repeated failure to find 11 world-class footballers has mystified observers at home and abroad.
However, a new study has some answers.
Research conducted by Richard Hood, UEFA ‘A’ and AFC Pro licence coach and former head of player development of All India Football Federation (AIFF), has revealed that in a sprawling country of a billion-plus people, over 65 per cent of the elite-level footballers hail from only five states – Manipur, Mizoram, West Bengal, Punjab and Goa — whose total population, as per the 2011 Census, was approximately 12.43 crore.
These are the male players — a total of 1,112 — who have played for India in the junior and senior national teams, and the top two divisions of the domestic leagues in the last 22 years.
To further extrapolate this data, Hood’s analysis showed that nearly 90 per cent of India’s footballers have hailed from nine states and one city – Greater Mumbai, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya and Sikkim in addition to the five states mentioned above — whose collective population was a little over 25 crore according to the 2011 Census. In other words, about 20 per cent of India’s population contributes to 90 per cent of its best footballers.
The tiny states of Manipur and Mizoram have contributed most to India’s player pool, accounting for almost 31 per cent of elite-level footballers in the country, followed by West Bengal (13.55 per cent), Punjab (11.46 per cent) and Goa (9.71 per cent).
In addition, of the 152 players who have played for India since 2002, almost 80 per cent came from just six states and one city (Greater Mumbai), with Punjab leading the chart.
So, if one were to draw India’s football map, there would be a giant hole in the middle, indicating that the world’s most popular sport has made virtually no inroads into the densely-populated Hindi heartland.
Hood underlined that the pattern in India is not different from most countries, including France, Argentina and Brazil, where a handful of pockets produce a majority of players.
However, for a country that has a poor scouting system and struggles to form a team that can beat a war-ravaged nation like Afghanistan, Hood hoped the research could help “identify areas that require targeted interventions”. “This could lead to more strategic talent identification and development efforts, tailored to leverage unique strengths and address the specific challenges of different regions,” he noted.
The project is aimed to examine the “birthplace effect” in Indian football. It looks at how “a range of environmental, social and infrastructural factors, such as access to quality coaching, facilities, and competitive opportunities, as well as socio-economic and cultural aspects” have encouraged or hindered sporting participation.
The influence of a player’s place of birth and the impact on the game was measured not just by studying the participation numbers at an elite level, but also by analysing the number of minutes each footballer has played in the last two decades.
Studying the game time helps in understanding whether a player is getting an opportunity or if he is simply there to make numbers. One of the biggest criticisms of India’s domestic league is that the homegrown players, especially in key positions like forwards, don’t get enough playing time, which results in them struggling for form while playing for the national team.
The analysis of 22,65,015 minutes played by Indians in the top two domestic competitions — the Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League — as well as the men’s national teams (senior, under-23, under-20 and under-17), highlights some interesting facts.
* Almost 80 per cent of the players who clocked maximum game time while playing for India since 2002 belong to just seven states. Punjab leads the pack when it comes to actual game time with the national team, with its players accounting for 16.69 per cent of the total minutes played.
* Players from West Bengal and Goa, the two traditional football hubs, have witnessed a sharp fall in playing time. At their peak, footballers from West Bengal dominated the time on the field in India colours, clocking 36.3 per cent of the playing minutes in 2006 World Cup qualifiers. In the ongoing campaign for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, that number has fallen to just 5 per cent. Similarly, Goa’s players accounted for nearly 30 per cent of match time in 2004, but are now down to 0.4 per cent.
* Players from Kerala have got zero playing time in the junior-most national team (Under-17). Manipuri players have hogged the minutes in this age group, accounting for 38.54 per cent of the minutes.
* In the premier division of club football, players from West Bengal are most in demand in terms of game time, followed by Manipur and Punjab.
* Manipur and Mizoram underscore their status as the sport’s homeground, producing more players than any other state who have made debuts in ISL and I-League (157 and 130, respectively).
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Football, the world’s most popular sport, has made no inroads into India’s Hindi heartland; 90% top players come from 9 states
LIKE HIS predecessors, FIFA president Gianni Infantino was left searching for answers during a visit to India in October 2022. “It’s a country of more than 1.3 billion, so there must be enough talent in India,” he remarked.
It wasn’t the first time a direct correlation was made between the country’s burgeoning population and its sporting success, or the lack of it. Seen through this prism, India’s repeated failure to find 11 world-class footballers has mystified observers at home and abroad.
However, a new study has some answers.
Research conducted by Richard Hood, UEFA ‘A’ and AFC Pro licence coach and former head of player development of All India Football Federation (AIFF), has revealed that in a sprawling country of a billion-plus people, over 65 per cent of the elite-level footballers hail from only five states – Manipur, Mizoram, West Bengal, Punjab and Goa — whose total population, as per the 2011 Census, was approximately 12.43 crore.
To further extrapolate this data, Hood’s analysis showed that nearly 90 per cent of India’s footballers have hailed from nine states and one city – Greater Mumbai, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya and Sikkim in addition to the five states mentioned above — whose collective population was a little over 25 crore according to the 2011 Census. In other words, about 20 per cent of India’s population contributes to 90 per cent of its best footballers.
The tiny states of Manipur and Mizoram have contributed most to India’s player pool, accounting for almost 31 per cent of elite-level footballers in the country, followed by West Bengal (13.55 per cent), Punjab (11.46 per cent) and Goa (9.71 per cent).
In addition, of the 152 players who have played for India since 2002, almost 80 per cent came from just six states and one city (Greater Mumbai), with Punjab leading the chart.
Hood underlined that the pattern in India is not different from most countries, including France, Argentina and Brazil, where a handful of pockets produce a majority of players.
However, for a country that has a poor scouting system and struggles to form a team that can beat a war-ravaged nation like Afghanistan, Hood hoped the research could help “identify areas that require targeted interventions”. “This could lead to more strategic talent identification and development efforts, tailored to leverage unique strengths and address the specific challenges of different regions,” he noted.
The project is aimed to examine the “birthplace effect” in Indian football. It looks at how “a range of environmental, social and infrastructural factors, such as access to quality coaching, facilities, and competitive opportunities, as well as socio-economic and cultural aspects” have encouraged or hindered sporting participation.
Studying the game time helps in understanding whether a player is getting an opportunity or if he is simply there to make numbers. One of the biggest criticisms of India’s domestic league is that the homegrown players, especially in key positions like forwards, don’t get enough playing time, which results in them struggling for form while playing for the national team.
The analysis of 22,65,015 minutes played by Indians in the top two domestic competitions — the Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League — as well as the men’s national teams (senior, under-23, under-20 and under-17), highlights some interesting facts.
* Almost 80 per cent of the players who clocked maximum game time while playing for India since 2002 belong to just seven states. Punjab leads the pack when it comes to actual game time with the national team, with its players accounting for 16.69 per cent of the total minutes played.
* Players from Kerala have got zero playing time in the junior-most national team (Under-17). Manipuri players have hogged the minutes in this age group, accounting for 38.54 per cent of the minutes.
* In the premier division of club football, players from West Bengal are most in demand in terms of game time, followed by Manipur and Punjab.
* Manipur and Mizoram underscore their status as the sport’s homeground, producing more players than any other state who have made debuts in ISL and I-League (157 and 130, respectively).
https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/65-percent-india-elite-footballers-5-states-new-study-9268673/