Indian Football Needs OCI Advantage Now More Than Ever Before.

In a situation of calamity, when there is nothing but hopelessness around, people would want to look for even a thread of hope to survive – even if it is just one. One Hero. To lift them out of the mire of pessimism. To give them the belief, that there is light at the end of tunnel.

For Indian football fans, the light at the end of tunnel is visible – the only thing that is unknown is that, how far ahead it is. Where does this dark passage end? How far ahead is it?

The idea to bring Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) players to improve the team has been talked for so long but only this year, some vague, but concrete hope has been surfaced. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has at least shown a positive response towards making this happen.

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It has been argued for long from almost every person in the Indian football fraternity, including legendary Sunil Chhetri, that OCI players can only help in achieving ‘short-term’ goals and that, ‘long-term’ success can only be attained with homegrown players.

While the argument does hold water, India’s crumbling football system is raising alarms like never before. Indian Super League (ISL) is facing uncertainty with the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) yet to be inked between All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL).Head coach Manolo Marquez is not positive about renewing his contract with India. Both men’s and women’s team in all age categories have not done well in any of the recent qualifiers. In this disastrous situation, it is difficult to expect a sustained, let alone higher investment from both the stakeholders as well as the government for very long.

The success of national teams will only solve all the problems. And to expect that the national teams to perform, again, investments and proper league is a necessity. It is a catch-22 situation and there seems no way out of this vicious cycle, one that can reduce Indian football to ashes. This situation is itself crying out loud that short term success is needed to build on for long term ones.

Acceptance is the way forward

India needs a boost.

OCI players can only help national teams to perform better. The league growth in terms of quality has been stagnant for long now, as evident by the results, since both the men’s and women’s teams have failed to beat even SAFF nations convincingly. And agonizingly, almost all SAFF nations, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka have begun importing origin players playing in leagues abroad to improve their quality.

For a country like India, where football is not a major sport, it’s growth is a very difficult process, in a global environment where competition is ever-increasing. And that too against countries where football is the most popular sport, yet relies on foreign-born nationals, for instance, Indonesia, which despite having an immense popularity for the sport, relies on Dutch-born origin players for the national team. There is of course, no qualms for doing so, because ‘The Garudas’ are very close to qualifying for the World Cup, once facing a huge-scale suspension from footballing activities. The inclusion of foreign-born players has changed everything for Indonesia.

Keen eyes look on.

OCI Yan Dhanda is awaiting his India call-up

Not just the fans, even OCI players themselves await the call and have taken it so far as to express their desire openly on all platforms, even on social media, such as likes of Yan Dhanda, Danny Batth. Plying their trade in Europe, there is a huge pool of talent ready to don the national colours. For AIFF, OCI is no longer a luxury to choose, but a lifeline to grab with both hands. It can save the country and the federation from a doom that is approaching faster than ever before.

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