Euphoria of hosting successful World Cup, ISL-I-League tussle marked soccer calendar
Kolkata, Dec 21 (IANS) Football in India got an unprecedented leg-up with the successful hosting of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, but on either side of the showpiece, a civil war-like situation prevailed in 2017 as two domestic leagues jostled for supremacy — ending in both running simultaneously.
The game’s apex body — the All India Football Federation (AIFF) — itself had a bumpy ride, with a court setting aside the election of Praful Patel as its president, till the top judiciary stayed the order.
But amidst all this, the high of the first-ever soccer World Cup on Indian soil, that saw a delightful England emerge champions, can scarcely be overestimated.
India recorded a total stadium attendance of 1,347,133 in 52 matches, making it the most watched FIFA youth event ever, even bettering the record of the 2011 cricket World Cup that drew 1,229,826 spectators in 49 matches held across three sub-continental nations.
The TV viewership crossed 47 million, according to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).
On the field, the football on display was peerless, with fleet-footed stars in the making strutting their stuff in front of bewitched spectators.
The six revamped venues (Kolkata, Guwahati, Goa, Kochi, New Delhi, Navi Mumbai) were up to the task, with the only blip being the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, where poor underfoot conditions triggered by rain prompted the authorities to shift the England-Brazil semi-final at the last moment to Kolkata’s Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, which hosted 11 matches, including the final.
Under Portuguese coach Luis Norton de Matos, hosts India expectedly lost all their three group league matches, but not before putting up some fight, particularly in the first two games against the US and Columbia. The performances of the likes of goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh and winger Komal Thatal drew wholesome praise.
In the run-up to the big event, India’s preparation took a beating when German coach Nicolai Adam was sacked in January for his behaviour with the players.
England’s Philip Foden (3 goals, 1 assist) was adjudged the tourney’s best player, winning the Golden Ball, while striker Rhian Brewster bagged the Golden Boot for scoring the most number of goals (8). Brazil goalkeeper Brazao won the Golden Glove for making the maximum 29 saves.
Moving on, the Indian senior team, under Anglo-Cypriot coach Stephen Constantine, qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup for the first time since the 2011 edition.
In the domestic arena, the soccer mandarins struggled in vain through the year to bring about a merger of the Indian Super League and the I-League.
Bigwigs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan refused to join the ISL bandwagon after paying a franchise fee and the deadlock could not be broken as to how the leagues could be merged.
Aizawl FC queered the pitch further by surprising one and all to win the I-League, forcing the mandarins to push back merger of the two leagues by at least one year with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Asia’s apex soccer body, having to intervene.
As the stakeholders mulled a second-division with outfits which are not that strong — traditionally or financially — the AFC carved out an interim plan for the two leagues to run concurrently with the long-term objective of a single league to be achieved by 2018.
Meanwhile, the women’s national team under coach Maymol Rocky failed to qualify for the Asian Cup, losing all matches in the qualifiers by huge margins save only Hong Kong, whom they beat 2-0.
The Bengal men won the inter-state Santosh Trophy championship after a six-year hiatus while Eastern Sporting Union bagged the inaugural Indian Women’s League (IWL).
Just after the World Cup, there were embarrassing moments for the AIFF as Patel was on the verge of being removed after the Delhi High Court set aside his election, saying the National Sports Code had not been followed.
Later, the Supreme Court stayed the order, allowing all AIFF elected committees to function on a regular basis and effectively clearing the decks for Patel to continue as its president.
The year saw the demise of former federation supremo Priyaranjan Dasmunsi after nine years in coma. It was under Dasmunsi’s leadership that Vision India Projects were launched along with the National Football League, and later the I-League as also the AIFF Elite Academy in Goa.
Indian football legend Ahmed Khan also breathed his last, as did former India and Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Shibaji Banerjee.
In the world of international football, Cristiano Ronaldo equalled Lionel Messi by claiming his fifth Ballon d’Or crown as he helped Real Madrid win the Champions League and Spanish La Liga titles. Italy missed out on a World Cup berth after a gap of 59 years, failing to beat Sweden in the qualifiers over two legs. In England, Chelsea won their fifth Premier League title while FC Barcelona’s Brazilian sensation Neymar moved to Paris Saint-Germain for a world record transfer fee.