Everyone
is geared up and must be eagerly waiting for FIFA 2014 which is going
to start on June-12th
You
must be aware of all international teams and their performance in
detail, Just want to throw a light on India's position globally in
football...
Sad
part is in India currently if we ask any football enthusiast to name
few players of Manchester, Real madrid or Barcelona teams....we
remember all the names ( Even Extras), but we can't even say 3 Indian
player names...
India
has had a glorious past and its peak of success in football came
during 1950's and 60's.The period from 1951 to 1962 is considered
the golden era in Indian football
In
Olympics :The 1948 London Olympics was India's first major
international tournament, where a predominately barefooted Indian
team lost 2–1 to France in the opening match, failing to convert
two penalties. Sarangapani Raman scored the only goal for India in
that match and thus the first Indian international goal ever in the
Olympics. Most of the players played with bare foot during this
olympics.
India
went on to participate in the 1952 Olympics, but lost 10–1 to
Yugoslavia in the Preliminary Round. As four years earlier, many of
the team played without boots but after the result in the Olympics
AIFF immediately made it mandatory to wear boots.
At
the 1956 Olympics they finished fourth,
which is regarded as one of finest achievements in Indian football.
India first met hosts Australia, winning 4–2 with Neville D'Souza
becoming the first
Asian to score a hat trick in the Olympics and also making India the
first Asian team to reach the Olympic semi-finals
India's
last representation in Olympics football is in 1960 where they were
eliminated in Group stage.
As
the other Asians team withdrew India got a chance to participate in
1950 FIFA World cup, but they did not go to the tournament in Brazil
due to the cost of travel, lack of practice time, team selection
issues and valuing the Olympics over the FIFA World Cup
Asian
Games : Champions in the year 1951 and 1962. Latest best is they have
entered Quarter finals in 1982
In
1964 AFC Asian Cup India finished as runners up, after that till now
they could not make any impact.
India's
Best Football Players in last 65 years
Sailendra
Nath Manna: He is
commonly known as Sailen Manna to his fans. The former captain of
Indian football team is considered as one of the best defenders to
have been produced by India so far.
In
2000, All India Football Federation paid him honor giving the
“Footballer
of the Millennium’ award”
In 1953, he became the only Asian
footballer to have been selected in the list of the
10 best
captains of the world by the English Football Association.
Jarnail
Singh Dhillon: is another
gifted player to Indian football. Because of his defensive skill, he
is still considered as one of the most outstanding defenders of
India.
He
became the only Indian to lead the Asian All Star Football team
P
K Banerjee: He is another player who is thought to be one of
the all time best football players of India.Appearing in 84 matches
for his country, he scored 65 goals.
The
greatest achievement in his career is perhaps that FIFA named him
Indian
Footballer of the 20th century
In 2004, he was given the ‘FIFA
Centennial Order of Merit’ which
is the highest award from FIFA
The
Durand Football Tournament is a football competition in India which
has a history dating back to 1888. The Durand Cup is the third oldest
football competition behind the FA cup and the Scottish Cup
In
1889 India's oldest current team Mohun Bagan AC.
was founded as Mohun Bagan Sporting Club
Current
FIFA ranking of India is 147 ( Highest-94 and Lowest-169)
The
women's game reached a new low in June 2009 when FIFA delisted the
side from its world rankings for being out of action for more than 18
months:(:(
There
are millions of football followers in India, but it's a small
percentage of the massive population. The game is becoming
increasingly popular among a growing middle class, but many of those
fans tend to follow the Premier League and other European
competitions and aren't emotionally invested in local teams.
The
Indian Football Team does not have a permanent stadium as of 2011,
due to so many football stadiums not meeting FIFA guidelines. There
are only 5 stadiums currently in India that are FIFA and AFC approved
.
2017
FIFA Under 17 world cup is going to be played in India.This
will be the first time India will host an international football
competition at a worldwide level. Luckily as a host nation we will
get the opportunity to be in the part of the tournament. Hope we will
perform better and it will be the first step in
really tapping into the youth market.
FIFA
president Sepp Blatter once described India as the "sleeping
giant" of
international football, and urged the government to allocate land and
build infrastructure.
Hope
in all aspects Football will gain momentum in India and try to our
best in qualifiers of atleast 2026 World cup and be a part of that
cup.....
Way
to go !!!!! Go India Go !!!!
