Former Arsenal manager and world governing body FIFA's current chief of global football development, Arsene Wenger will play a role in Indian football's grassroots programmes and talent development. (More Football News)
Durꩲing the World Cup in Doha, All India Footbꦆall Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey had held deliberations with Wenger and other senior officials of the FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) regarding youth development projects in India.
"We have had extensive discussions witဣh FIFA development team. Arsene Wenger is head of FIFA Task Force and they will help us in grassroots programme. Coachꦗes from Wenger's team would come," Chaubey said after unveiling its 'Vision 2047' roadmap.
"About football budget cut, we have got lot of help from government and ministry and we have never been turned down when we requested for something. In future too,🎐 we will expect whatever we deserve in terms of help, government will give us," he added.
The roadm꧑ap hopes that in the country's centenary year of independence, India will also emerge as a new powerhouse of Asian💙 football.
Developed in conjunction with all stakeholders of Indian football, the roadmap has also sought and🏅 incorporated inputs from the AFC 𝄹and FIFA. The salient ambitions of the roadmap are to see India among the top four footballing nations in Asia, host one of the top leagues in the continent, and create a vibrant footballing ecosystem.
'Vision 2047' has been broken down, for diligent implementation, into s꧑ix four-year strategic plans. The first of these will look to cover the period till 2026.
"With a shared vision and by shar✱ing responsibility, we can implement targeted programmes to add🍰ress key areas identified in this roadmap and help build capacity for the football ecosystem," Chaubey said.
He said the aim is to revive "the glory days of Indian football ⛦as it was in the 1950s and 60s and becoming a powerhouse of Asian footbꦏall once again".
One of the key aspects of the roadmap is to ensure increased ♏access to competition and games for player🍃s plying their trade in the country. By 2047, the federation wants to ensure players will be able to play at least 55 matches across different competitions every season.
"Transformation𓄧 will begin at home through a reform of the organisational culture," secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran said, referring to a need for bet൩ter governance of the game across the country.
"A restructuring exercise will be carried out to streamline current operations and develop a team which adopts the industry's best practices and is tran꧟sparent in it🦩s dealings."
"By🐽 2036, the centenary of the federation," Prabhakaran said, "India will be among the top seven c﷽ountries in Asia, and a strong contender to qualify for the World Cup on merit."
The🍰 federation recognises that growth in modern sport requires a business outlook. The federation will dedicate an entire division — business and marketing — to develop, cജultivate and invite investment and partnerships in Indian football.
The federation observed that at the grassroots, the game has low participation relative to its size and pꦜopulation. There is a huge gender disparity in participation, and a lack of facilities and playfields in urban areas where children can come out and play.
A lack of cohesion and focus between different﷽ stakeholders has led to significant gaps in funding.
The AIFF's 2026 target is to reach 35 million children through grassroots programmes and implement village g🎐rassroot programmes across 100 villages throu♌ghout India.
The flagship grassroots project will also aim to register 1 million registered players and provide football education to 25 millio☂n children through 'Football for Schools🀅'.
The federation recognised that while women's footbওall has been growing ra🐼pidly across the world, it has previously received very little attention in India. The weak ecosystem needs specific solutions to help increase participation and competency across the pyramid.
Some of the proposed solutions include better adoption of women's football by clubs across different levels, ince🉐ntivising the role of coaches, referees and match commissioners for women, as well as providing a minimum salary to women's players.
By 2026 — the period of the first strategic plan — the federation will ensure the 💎creation of a four-level league tableඣ pyramid, the top of which will be occupied by the Indian Women's League (featuring 10 teams), followed by the 2nd Division (8 teams).
In addition, there will be five zonal leagues with eight teams each. A new w🌟omen's youth league structure has been proposed, which will see players across different age groups play a minimum of 14 matches.
The federation will ens⛎ure that a minimum of 20 states implement the new women's youth structures ꦬby 2027.
On the men's side, the current strategic plan will ensure the creation of a three-tier national league pyramid with 40 teams. The Indian Super League 𒅌and I-League will boast of 14 teams each while the I-League 2nd Division wil🤪l consist of 12 teams.
A state championship structure will see city and district leagues feed into the state championships. A revamped men's youth league structure will see the local state youth league and elite youth leagues will run simultaneousl෴y.
Clubs a🐭nd academies will participate in both with the winners of the state youth leagues qualifying for 𓄧the Elite youth league.
One of the cornerstones of the roadmap is the "creation of a national playin🌳g philosophy, which will be developed over time after consultation, observation and exploration".
The federation observed that the talent development ecosystem is currently informal, with clubs and federation bodies all largely working in silos without a systematic or uniform a☂pproac💫h.
The AIFF🀅 proposes to change this by creating a data-driven scouting structure from the Elite Youth League System for its national teams. Clubs will drive talent identification at grassroots unto the Elite Youth structure.
An increased focus will be put on utilising the FIFA windows across age grou☂ps to provide exposure to players in the national teams, with mega camps (two or more age groups) sc🧸heduled at least twice a year. Qualification for the FIFA U17 World Cups for both men and women on merit is a key part of the agenda.
