Indian football’s rise in recent years passed a milestone earlier this month when the Blue Tigers climbed to 101st spot in the latest FIFA rankings, their highest standing since 2000.
From being as low as 173rd in March 2015 to 101st in April 2017 is a commendable feat. However, Indian football’s race into global consciousness has still some way to run.
Despite being the 11th best team in Asia according to the FIFA rankings, India still languishes in the backwaters of world football. It is indeed a shame that no Indian footballer has, until now, graced the Premier League’s confines. The prospect of that for Indians in the future is equally bleak, if not more.
Chhetri’s missed chance
It is not every day that an Indian footballer attracts the attentions of English clubs. Until now, only five Indians have played professionally at European clubs, Sunil Chhetri and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu being among them.
In the summer of 2009, Chhetri signed a three-year deal with the Mittal group co-owned club, Queens Park Rangers. But his move from Dempo to QPR stalled due to work permit issues, which surfaced due to India not being among the world’s top 70 countries, a rule that has become even harsher today.
After Chhetri’s big move fell through, former India captain Renedy Singh gave an honest assessment of the English FA’s international player recruitment criteria based on FIFA rankings: “It's so unfair to have a ranking issue. They need to look into the quality of players then national team ranking. It would help if talented players like Sunil [Chhetri] and others make it big.”
QPR were a Championship club at the time they negotiated with Chhetri but went on to get promoted the following season. Had the 32-year-old sealed his QPR move, we could already have seen an Indian strutting his stuff on Premier League pitches.
The English FA’s strict rules on non-European player transfers
Earlier, in the time when Chhetri almost became a QPR player, the FA’s rules were slightly lenient than what they are today. But back then, the rankings yardstick was still in place, although the lower limit was set at 70.
Now, that threshold has gone up to 50 — effected in 2015 — which means it has now become more difficult for an Indian player to get into a Premier League club or a Championship club. India might have jumped 72 places in the rankings ladder since 2015, but the Premier League dream still remains a distant one for the country’s players.
Greg Dyke, the FA chairman from 2013 to 2016, explained the amendment of the work permit rules for non-European players: “The new system will make it far easier for us to identify and attract top quality players that truly are at the elite level, and it will make it far tougher for those who don’t meet the quality standard to get to play in Britain.”
Have the new rules helped English football?
While the new rules stressed on negating the impact of foreign players on the development of British homegrown players, they have barely helped the England national team. England are not among the world’s top ten at the moment and suffered one of their worst humiliations at Iceland’s hands in Euro 2016.
In the last ten seasons, only one English player has bagged the Player of the Year gong. England haven’t won a knockout game in a major international tournament for more than ten years now.
It’s clear that in the immediate short term, the restrictions haven’t had the desired effect, although things may stand to change in the longer term. But what is evident is that those new rules have made the Premier League an impossible, almost mythical land for our players.
Gurpreet’s European sojourn
Gurpreet, the national team goalkeeper, currently plays for Norwegian Eliteserien outfit Stabaek. The 25-year-old sparked interest from Everton before moving to Norway, but familiar work permit issues meant his Premier League move hasn’t materialised yet.
He is now well-established at Stabaek, becoming the first Indian player to play in the Europa League. While the Premier League blows its trumpet as the best league in the world, their inclusiveness policy lags behind several other European leagues.
For example, if the German Bundesliga can have clubs with Lebanese and Thai players, La Liga can be home to players from Eritrea and Mozambique, why can’t the Premier League allow the recruitment of players from lesser ranked countries like India?
Germany and Spain have done far better at international level than England despite their domestic leagues housing players from lesser footballing nations, hence there is no reason to believe that intense filtering of international transfers will result in an instant change in fortunes for the Three Lions.
Although it is unfair to suggest that by not having Indian players, the Premier League misses out on a group of great players. The fact is India is far from a footballing hotbed, but players like Chhetri and Gurpreet, arguably the best in the country, can inspire countless generations of footballers in India if they can showcase their skills on the Premier League stage.
While it is inappropriate to hang on to the FA’s system to get something out of our own players, there should be, like Renedy said, more emphasis on a player’s quality than the FIFA rankings.
Since rankings are made out to be objective, although they are not, and quality tends to be a subjective measure dependent on myriad factors, Indian players aiming to someday play in the Premier League must lower their ambitions for the time being.
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