Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
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First of all I wanted to wish you all a very Happy New Year 2017!!!
The year 2017 could be a decisive year for Indian football with a number of key events to happen and decisions to be made for the future of Indian football.
The biggest of them all will come in October 2017, when the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup will be played by 24 nations across six Indian cities which would announce the real arrival of Indian football at the global stage of organising FIFA tournaments. Success in organising the event is more important that the success of head coach Nicolai Adam and his India Under-17 boys.
For India to be considered as potential FIFA Under-20 World Cup hosts or for other tournaments and competitions it needs to be perfect hosts to all guests – teams, officials, media and fans.
On the other side is the success of the India Under-17 boys. In a few months time we will know the group opponents of India, which will define what Nicolai and his team can achieve. To me surviving the group stage would be a success, but again it depends on the opponents that India would face in the group stage.
In the Indian club football scene the big question is if the merger of the Indian Super League and I-League would happen in 2017 or if it will be pushed back to 2018. The current unclear status has caused a lot of colleteral damage and if a final decision is not taken soon, then further problems will crop up.
IMG-Reliance wants the merger in 2017, but the longer the final decision is delayed it looks that a proper merger should have been planed with at least a year or two in between to work out of all the things needed for a merged entity, which if forced through in 2017 will lead to new problems.
Then there is the India senior national team which will soon get to know its opponents in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. For head coach Stephen Constantine and his boys there can only be one aim and that is to qualify for UAE 2019, which depending on the group could be a big ask.
And further there is further progress in grassroots and youth development with more and more qualified coaches to train the kids.
In a years time we will know, if 2017 was the year going forward or if it is another year lost…
