Panaji: FIFA president Gianno Infantino isn’t the first to refer to India as a “sleeping giant of football.” Well, at a current world ranking of 141, the giant continues to remain in slumber.For the first time since the AFC Asian Cup was expanded to accommodate 24 teams, India have failed to qualify for the continental showpiece. The top-tier league has 14 teams but just 13 matches for each club this season, and the national team has remained winless in 15 competitive matches, since Nov 2023.In the next three months, however, three national teams will try and achieve what has never been done before: qualify for the World Cup on sporting merit. Should that be achieved, everyone, including FIFA, the governing body for world football, will be celebrating.“I have previously spoken of India as a sleeping giant of football, and with FIFA’s ultimate objective being to make football truly global, we need to prioritise growth and development in the country,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino told TOI on Monday. “In my time as FIFA president, I have always emphasised that football starts from the grassroots level; the level from which truly sustainable development flows.”Infantino completes ten years as FIFA president on Thursday. In his manifesto as candidate to the FIFA presidency, the former UEFA general secretary said his main objective was “to put football back at the centrestage of all that FIFA does”. He wanted to deliver concrete actions for football all around the world, and with India’s undeniable strength in numbers, the country has not escaped the global body’s attention.“We have placed importance on holistic development programmes like FIFA Forward and Football for Schools, both of which India has been committed to. It is also why we identified India as an early target for the implementation of FIFA’s talent development scheme under chief of global football development Arsene Wenger. By offering access to expertise and other resources and promoting knowledge exchange, we will continue to work with the All India Football Federation and Indian clubs to enable men’s and women’s football in the country to reach its full potential,” said Infantino.FIFA said it provides support to cover operational costs of all associations, as well as funding for specific projects, and without its help, there would be no tournament football in 150 member countries, as they simply wouldn’t have the resources to develop the necessary infrastructure.In 2023, Wenger, famous for his hugely-successful stint with Arsenal in the Premier League, visited India to kick off the ground-breaking talent development scheme.“I believe that we have an opportunity to change the world of football,” Wenger said during his four-day visit to India. “Football is the number one sport in the world, and a country like India, with a population of 1.4 billion, of course has to exist in this world – and that’s why we are here.”
