Houghton criticises India's football structure

New Delhi: Coming down heavily on the national football structure, Indian coach Bob Houghton today asserted that the AIFF set-up and the attitude of club officials makes it difficult to implement positive changes.

''If you look at the AIFF committee, it comprises state federation officals from all over the country as well as various club officials. So it comprises people who have different agendas, which are sometimes clashing with each other,'' Houghton told reporters here ahead of the Indian team's departure for a training camp in Portugal.
''The club officials want their teams to play in the state league as well as the I-League, because it means more money. But it is not an ideal situation to have,'' he added.

The former coach of Asian heavyweights like China and Uzbekistan rued that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the I-League clubs have always displayed an astonishing lack of vision and foresight, which has placed Indian footbal in its current predicament.

''Anyone who believes in the future of Indian football would agree that the way forward is to qualify for the World Cup and everyone must put their weight behind it. ''India is playing football for the last 120 years, yet why are we ranked 133 in the world? It is because we don't work together, which is obviously, what even (AIFF general secretary) Colaco mentioned earlier and I believe it is true,'' he asserted.

Lamenting the lack of a proper domestic structure in Indian football, the 62-year-old Englishman pointed out that the vast majority of Indian clubs do not have a youth team, which is contrary to what happens in the rest of the world.

''You need to change the structure of your domestic game.

You are only as good as the players you have got. It is very important to develop good players. There hasn't been a great deal of effort in developing players. ''(U-19 coach) Colin Toal mentioned to me that in Kolkata, there is no U-14, U-16 and U-19 league and we are talking about the hub of Indianfootball,'' Houghton stated.

''You have to look at the big picture and ensure that the I-League produces players, that the national team gets to play together. In the last four years, everyone has been trying to bring the I-League up to a certain level so that it reaches the level of a J-League or a K-League. But the clubs haven't fulfilled the AFC Club licensing criteria and this haunts the progress.

''I have been saying this for the last four years. But nothing changes,'' he rued.


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