The All India Football Federation’s decision to allow youth academies to register a maximum of three players of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)/Person of Indian Origin (PIO)/Foreigners has drawn mixed reactions from various sections of the footballing community in the country.
While the decision to include foreigners in this list has been criticised, some observers feel allowing OCI’s and PIO’s in the youth system may be an interesting experiment,
Kushal Das, AIFF’s general secretary, when contacted made it clear, that this decision was taken, keeping the OCI and PIO kids in mind, “There are many PIOs living in India and their kids also want to play football. This will be applicable to them so that they can send their children to academies.”
Das also emphasised that this would not be applicable to the national age-group sides, up to India Under-16. “This rule is specifically for academies and those clubs that want to take part in the Under-15 and Under-16 I-League and starting next year, the Under-13 I-League,” he reiterated.
Out of a total of 30 registered players, three academy entrants from either of the three categories may be registered in the respective age-group squads but not at the Under-18 level or above. Das says, “The Under-18 team has to cater to the national team and at that stage, we have to start thinking about the senior squads. If any of these players wish to continue beyond the Under-15 age group, then he or she will have to take up Indian citizenship to play in and for the country.”
Ranjan Choudhary, one of India’s most renowned youth trainers, has mixed feelings about the new rules. On the OCI/PIO subject, he is fairly satisfied and calls it an interesting ‘experiment’ for the future. “Yes, I have seen this in Japan and South Korea where they have started implementing this with a certain degree of success. Here too, we don’t allow OCI/PIO’s into the main team just yet, but could be an interesting test for the local kids to play with children from different backgrounds,” says the coach who has been associated with the Tata Football Academy, Pune FC and is now in-charge of East Bengal’s Under-18 squad which finished runners-up to the AIFF Elite Academy in the recently concluded Under-18 I-League.
To say that this is a new phenomenon would be misleading as there are clubs and academies in the country, which already have children who fall into either of these three categories playing with them.
Das also states something on similar lines, “Bengaluru FC has two Americans playing in their academy. There are others too.”
Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools also have children with similar origins playing in their academies.
Shaji Prabhakaran, former FIFA regional development officer for South and Central Asia and author on grassroots development, is not too satisfied with the development, “People should not go out of India and search for talent when we already have a population of 1.3 billion.
“This model exists in mature markets, in European countries. Here, the clubs should be more sensible about the players they choose. If people start importing, they should not pick second grade players in the name of foreigners. Personally, I wouldn’t even take one. I would want more Indians to be part of the ecosystem at youth level. Most of the clubs won’t go for it, limited budget, as costs go up substantially,” says Shaji emphasising on Indian talent being prioritised.
The academy model is not consistent across high-performing European nations. While a lot of foreign players play in England, world champions Germany have a majority or in most cases, fully reserved spots for native footballers.
Raphael Honigstein’s Das Reboot, on German football, further states that German academies had stopped searching for South American talent in the early 2000’s.
Choudhary also give examples of the German model, as their academies are ‘only filled with German kids’, in his argument against foreigners at the youth level.
Ranjit Bajaj, owner of Minerva Punjab, one of India’s most successful clubs at the younger age groups, says that he will not follow the rule as it is not mandatory, “If they are OCI or PIO who can go on to play for the club or India in the future, then it is worth it. Otherwise we will not sign any foreigners as our costs will escalate.”
With the AFC also asking for 80% homegrown players in the local leagues and teams, and with a few I-League clubs taking punts on young, Indian players, it is interesting to see whether these new rules will affect the composition of academy teams going forward.
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