As explored in the first article in this series exploring Indian football, there are a number of problems surrounding Indian football. The 2007 formation of the I-league (a revamp of the declining National Football League) is just the first step in the solution of improving India’s football scene, by making professional football in India a viable career. The league has been expanded by four sides for the 2009-10 season, with sides formed in Pune and Shillong and Kerala, revealing the growing interest in the game throughout the nation.

The formation of sides such as these are slowly eradicating the term ‘institutional teams’ - the notion that most sides in the country are off-shoots of companies for the social benefit of workers, with Air India FC the most obvious example. Several sides have formed in such a fashion, limiting the potential of the fan base size and economic growth of the club. This is because the majority of the clubs’ fan-base consists of the main company’s workforce. Regional pride is very important in India and clubs representing whole states instead of single companies will do well to spread the interest in the game.

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Imagine you are a youngster growing up in India. The odds are that you are likely to idolize cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar instead of relatively unknown Baichung Bhutia. There could even be a possibility you may have never heard of the latter and why not?

The former is one of the greatest batsmen in cricket, while the latter has reached the modest heights of playing for then Division Two side Bury in 1999. Bhutia’s seemingly modest achievement was said to be the breakthrough needed for players from the subcontinent to sign for European clubs (although Mohammed Abdul Salim, nicknamed the ‘Indian Juggler’, was the first Indian to sign for a European club when he joined Celtic in 1937 – he returned homesick after a few games despite his obvious talent (boots or barefoot)).

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