FIFA Under 17 World Cup: India Football Captain Sunil Chhetri Previews the Tournament for Newsclick

As far as football development in concerned, Sunil Chhetri knows a thing or two. He learned it the hard way. He grew up, and started playing the game, in one of the bleakest football environments on the planet. If you examine global football, and the 200 plus nations that play it, you will find one thing in common. Almost every one of their national capitals has (or had) a club that has won the top national competition. Notable exceptions are Berlin, Beijing and, you guessed it, New Delhi. Even though the sport has been played, and watched, with as much passion and energy as anywhere, the numbers have always been small. In the national capital, where value in numbers is something we all have running in our blood, football simply wasn’t high enough on the list of priorities to attract all the little pieces needed to make the puzzle work. Some of that is changing (and will be the subject of subsequent pieces) today. But, when Chhetri was growing up, Delhi was a footballing black hole. 

Many from Chhetri’s batch, before and after, have possessed the talent to play in India’s top clubs.  Some would have even gone on to represent the nation. But by the time they got out of the city, for most, it was far too late. And going from City FC in the capital, a club that doesn’t even have a WikiPedia page, to Mohun Bagan was an unfathomable leap. The Delhi-boy sauntered into a dressing room where the other strikers included Bhaichung Bhutia, Jose Ramirez Barreto and fellow talented youngster Ashim Biswas. In reality, this is when his footballing education began at the age of 18. 

Like the present batch of Under 17 players, Chhetri was exceptionally fortunate to have been noticed. The difference is, that this squad has received modern, international standard coaching from the age of (approximately) 13. This makes them the best prepared generation of Indian footballers. While the current India captain and top international goalscorer is bullish about the preparation, talent and attitude of the boys, he also puts into perspective some vital aspects of Indian football that need many more years of sustained effort before considering itself comparable with the world.