The Fifa U-17 World Cup squad list highlights one big flaw in Indian football’s structure

With less than 10 days to go for the first Fifa World Cup in India, the official squad lists for all 24 teams were released on Tuesday.

The tournament will see a total of 504 young football players make their mark at a tournament that has often been the training ground for the top international players. Among the names to watch out for in the list were Brazil’s Vinicius Junior, who recently signed with Real Madrid, and Paris Saint-Germain striker Tim Weah.

But even something as simple as a squad list highlights one big flaw in the structure of Indian football. The full list of players shows something very peculiar: the startling lack of club-based backing for the Indian players.

A cursory glance at all other teams, including that of developing countries such as Ghana and Democratic People Republic of Korea, shows that most of players belong to a football club from their country and in some cases, in one of the top five European leagues. There are five Chelsea FC players in the England squad, four players from RB Leipzig in Germany and five Real Madrid players in Spain’s list.

It is only the Indian team where the bulk of players belong to the national federation. In the club column in the squad list, all but five players are listed as belonging to the All India Football Federation. Of the rest, four players were from Minerva Punjab FC and a lone name, Sunny Dhaliwal, from Toronto FC.

What does this tell us about India’s grassroots level football?

With no coherent youth system among Indian clubs, there is only so much a national federation can do to further at the junior level. Unless there are football clubs that have the resources to scout and train players from an early age, it will be difficult for Indian juniors to get the same exposure that the players they will be playing in the upcoming world cup get.

India will begin their Fifa U-17 World Cup campaign against USA on October 6 in New Delhi.