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19-year old Siddharth Kushwaha from Mumbai has become the latest addition to the very small but now frequently increasing list of Indian players playing for clubs in foreign leagues. He now joins the likes of Baichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri, Mohammed Salim and other youngsters like Varin Mehta and Ankit Sharma. Siddharth has signed with the Madrid-based Spanish Third Division side, CD Olmpico Rosillo 75 FC , on a 1-year contract.
This breakthrough for him comes at the back of a successful last season, where he guided a Spanish Third Division Junior League side, Futbol Alcobendas Sport, to a creditable 4th place finish. The efforts of this lanky striker impressed the coach and scouts at CD Olmpico, who readily offered him a month-long trial. Siddharth made the most of the opportunity and impressed the club’s coaching staff with his all round play and dedicated work ethic. As a result of which, he was offered a 1-year contract and a chance to take part in a professional league which is known to be technically and physically very demanding. Siddharth also had an opportunity to play for a Spanish Second Division side, but keeping in mind his young age, he decided to play in the Third Division to ensure that he gets more playing time and greater match experience. This step-by-step progress will ensure that he will be ready to face professional pressures and demands of the higher leagues as he moves on in his promising career.
So, even though Siddharth’s achievement is an extra-ordinary one, the fact that he is only the 6th Indian to ever play in a foreign league is a cause of concern and the glaringly harsh reality of the standards of Indian football. We need to have more of our young players going abroad and training in better facilities and playing in the more competitive leagues, so that they can develop better and help India become a better national team that can rise in the FIFA rankings and start taking part in major tournaments. Because only when the national team will participate in world events and get international mileage and a better ranking, only then will the local investor interest increase in Indian football. This will in turn help in setting up of world-class youth development programs and the local club football structure will get the much needed monetary boost and only then will we see the complete development of Indian football.
More international link-ups of any sort is what’s required to provide the impetus to the development of football in India and there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, with former Arsenal and Spurs player Ricketts among others showing interest in Indian football, Barcelona and Manchester United have set up their academies here and Sporting Lisbon is to follow suit soon. What we need is for more U-16 and U-19 players to get International exposure in terms of training and match experience. This can only happen if AIFF develops more youth programs where they get to go and spend a few months training and playing in foreign leagues. It has to be a planned path where young players from across the country get equal opportunities to be a part of such programs, unlike an individual and private effort in the case of Siddharth.
List of other Indian players who have had stints at foreign clubs:
Mohammed Salim (Celtic, Scotland); Bhaichung Bhutia (FC Bury, England), Sunil Chhetri (Sporting Lisbon B, Portugal & Kansas City, USA); Varin Mehta (Royal Antwerp, Belgium) and Ankit Sharma (Club Deportivo San Cristobal Football, Spain)
