Rob Baan, Technical Director of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), has expressed his disappointment on the status quo of Indian football during the “GOAL 2013” Convention in Delhi on Friday.
The Dutchman addressed the audience from the world of Indian sports, media and the corporate world during the two-day convention in the capital.
Baan stressed on the missing fundings for the various projects including the “Lakshya 2022” project worked out by the Dutchman.
“There is no national team training centre, no elite academies, no budget as far as implementing the ‘Lakshya 2022’ project is concerned,” Baan told the attendees.
“We already have the plans in place, but to implement them, all stakeholders of Indian football have to come and work together. More coordination is needed among state associations and the national federation.”
“The IMG-Reliance says that they are not able to generate funds but I say, if the plan is good, funds will come,” he continued.
The AIFF Technical Director did also express his views on the current situation of the I-League and the Youth System in Indian football. “The federation’s team (Pailan Arrows) reflects the standard of the I-League,” he said.
“Nowhere in the world you will comes across a federation having a team of its own. But in India it’s there because clubs here have no youth development system in place.”
Talking about Indian football in general, the Dutchman did also declare his point of view on India skipper Sunil Chhetri’s attempts to get a breakthrough abroad.
“You call him the icon but he has not managed to play in USA and Portugal,” Baan has been reportedly quoted saying by PTI. “That’s a big flop for me… as long as you can’t play in Europe how will you go up?”