AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das says Indian football is on cusp of next level of development

The All Indian Football Federation General Secretary Kushal Das on Monday said the country is on the cusp of reaching the next level of football development and the role of coaches is important in achieving that. Speaking at an online opening session of a coach education course jointly organised by the AIFF and the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Das said Indian football has improved its standard in recent years. “Without coaches, the game can’t be improved nationally. India is on the cusp of taking it to the next level. Our youth development, FIFA rankings have improved in recent times significantly,” Das said. “Combining the knowledge of NIS Patiala which focuses on Sports science and AIFF courses will be a perfect scenario for the coaches to grow. AIFF will always be there to provide whichever support is required.” A four-day Special Reconversion Course began on Monday as part of AIFF’s plan to guide SAI coaches to understand the process of AFC-AIFF coach education system. Das thanked SAI for coming forward and partnering with AIFF for the course. “We are grateful to SAI for coming forward and partnering with us. I would like to thank Mr. Sandeep Pradhan (SAI DG) for his untiring efforts to implement this. We have been trying to do this since long,” he said. Indian football Technical Director Isac Doru stressed on developing a “winning mentality” which he said was key to achieve excellence. “We need to develop a winning mentality. We need to instill it in the youngsters’ minds. We train to win, not only participate. A win gives us confidence. It builds a champion mentality,” he said. “We are not giving you (coaches) the fish, rather we’ll teach you how to fish. India is full of talent who are like liquid gold. Except for the coaches, you cannot make jewellery.” Doru said coaches need to learn the principles of the game, training methodologies, specific characteristics of different age groups. “Individual, as well as the combined performance, needs to be assessed.” National team director Abhishek Yadav felt many coaches will get benefited from this course which will help the development of Indian football.