Premier Futsal is back and its tiff with the AIFF continues to hinder Indian football

On Thursday, in New Delhi, football legend Luis Figo alongside Ryan Giggs launched season 2 of the Premier Futsal league. Headed by Figo, the league aims at empowering Indian football to say the least. Last season, they had six teams participating over a week-long event. This time, they have increased the duration to two weeks and increased the number of matches from 15 to 27 across three venues. Last year it was played in Goa and Tamil Nadu.

However, immediately after the event, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) issued a statement saying, “AIFF reiterates that Premier Futsal is not recognised by the AIFF. Futsal, as per the AIFF constitution, is governed by the federation. The Federation is also instructing all its affiliate units not to allow players who are registered with the affiliates to participate in this unauthorised and unofficial Futsal league.” The AIFF even promise to start their own Futsal tournament this year if things go according to plan.

So, how does this benefit Indian football? Does banning the tournament help budding footballers the push required to take up the game professionally or for that matter seriously?

‘We are not doing anything wrong’

“We are a private event and whatever the federation wants to do against us, it’s not the right thing because we are not doing anything wrong,” Luis Figo reiterated. Of course, we have some issues with the federation because they don’t support. The federation hasn’t done anything for the sport in the country. But we can,” said Figo.

If you re-read the quote, he has a point. Where does Indian football stand in today’s day and age? India are 132nd in the world and nowhere close to qualifying for the main draw of the FIFA World Cup anytime soon.

Futsal is a hit across the globe with people watching the shorter format of the game with interest. Plus players started out playing 5-a-side football before entering the big league. Even Figo was part of the bandwagon. “I used to play Futsal when I started playing football as well. I think it helped me develop my dribbling skills and technique. When I moved to 11-a-side football, the game is different but I can say that my passion for the game started with Futsal. So, I can identify with this sport and some of the biggest names in football also started by playing Futsal,” said Figo.

Granted, Futsal – the-5-a-side- is not the real deal compared to the 90-minute game involving 22 men. However, in a nation where cricket is the lifeline, Futsal can be a game changer. It can revitalize Indian football just like T20 cricket gave Indian cricket the boost after getting mundane.

Currently, India football is battling between merging the I-league and Indian Super League (ISL). We are also going to play host nation this year for Under-17 Fifa World Cup and only earlier this week appointed Portugal’s Luis Norton de Matos as the head coach of the India U-17 coach.

A T20 version of football

He joined the team following the ignominious exit of former coach Nicolai Adam. We still don’t have proper exposure of the game at the ground level and interest and skill among children taking up football professionally is left to one’s own perception. Football grounds are a rare sight and people playing 5-a-side games in streets and buildings is common sight across cities.

Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs said, “Tactically, physically it will help and also it will be more accessible – you don’t need a big field, you don’t need 22 players, you only need 10 players and a small piece of land… so that might help develop it quicker. (As in football) same things apply (in futsal) – team work, learning individual skills and also the physical aspects of the game.”

However, as a football player and coach would you recommend your players to play the shorter format?

“Playing 11-a-side game compared to 5-a-side game is a vast difference. If a player wants to concentrate on the bigger version of the game then playing Futsal will create problems for him. In Futsal it is just about quick touches with all your players close by. If you want to be a footballer, then your vision should see far enough, one-touch also is important. I wouldn’t recommend Futsal,” said former Indian footballer Godfrey Pereira. However, isn’t space crunch an issue and lack of grounds in the country?

Can futsal help Indian football grow?

“We played small-sided and then took to the big league. But such games are good enough for your first touch or ball control or to run with a ball and dodge a player. Now players, who are used to playing 5-a-side, suffer in the 11-a-side game. There they can’t see the player further on and pass the player closest to them. There are more tournaments for 5-a-side games compared to 11-a-side games. However, that has restricted a player’s vision and that is a drawback,” said Pereira.

Granted that the method is flawed but perfecting your passes and ball control in one of the most important aspects for a footballer and more 5-a-side tournaments compared to 11-a-side games also garners the message of players taking up Futsal happily.

So maybe supporting Figo’s Futsal league isn’t a bad thing given the players involved in the project include Paul Scholes, Michel Salgado, Ronaldinho, among others. Another interesting piece of the jigsaw is Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli who is the brand ambassador of the league. So need we say more?

“We have invested a lot of money to promote the sport. We will go ahead with our idea to promote futsal in the country and to create tours for the youngsters to practice the sport. Legally, we are not doing anything wrong. In that sense, the federation can’t do anything to stop the event,” Figo said. But for how long can they sustain the project given the rift with AIFF? “If we made the first season happen (why can’t we do it again),” said Figo.

Plus, the sports ministry has supposedly backed Figo after he met sports minister Vijay Goel on Thursday. “It’s always a positive to get the support of the minister as he is the person who has an idea about sports in the country. He is the one who understands that sports should be promoted,” Figo said.

For Indian football to grow or rather boom like cricket did, differences have to be put aside and parties need to come together and work on making football a career to pursue in a country that has a population of 1.2 billion people.