Interview with Sukhvinder Singh, Marketing Head, All India Football Federation (AIFF)

If you are on www.sportskeeda.com, you must have some kind of passion for sports. Imagine if you had a job with Nike. How many of you would give that up for a job with a sports association in India. Knowing the poor reputation that the sporting bodies enjoy in India, it is not surprising that very few of us would have opted to make that switch. Yet, Sukhvinder Singh, Marketing Head of AIFF did just that. He traded in his private sector dream for a different kind of challenge. Let us find out more.

Sukhvinder Singh

Harmit: Please tell us about your childhood, where were you born, where did you go to school and was football a big part of your childhood?

Sukhvinder: I was the 5^th and the youngest child of my parents born in a very humble Sikh family in Baroda, Gujarat. Father was a technician with a public sector unit (Indian Petrochemicals Corporation of India) which helped the family immensely not only in terms access to the basic necessisities of life but also having an overall good quality of life in a government township. The beginning was tough for the family in Gujarat but by the time I was born the financial condition had improved. I was much more fortunate as compared to my other siblings who really had to struggle during their childhood.

Right from an early age I was into outdoor sports. The township had great sporting facilities which helped me to experiment with various sports like football, hockey, gymnastics and basketball. 2 of my sisters were already established basketball players for the state team. One of them had been picked up by the Sports Authority of India under a scholarship program. Obviously, it was basketball towards which I got attracted to at first. The basketball coach of the school team was also the coach of the gymnastics team who thought I should focus more on gymnastics as I was short but very agile. Did gymnastics for a while but found it not to be very exciting. It was one of those monsoons where I found a few kids playing football with a proper kits and boots in an open field in the colony. I joined them barefoot and I guess that’s the time I decided that I was made for football and vice versa. Football with all its running, kicking, sliding, pushing was what suited me as a restless kid who was always looking for trouble.

I still remember the 1^st trial for the district team where the selector was the physical education teacher. I was eleven that time and amongst 100 kids who had gathered on the school ground. Every kid got one chance to kick the football as far as possible. The distance from the kicking spot to the first bounce was measured and the top 16 long kickers got into the team. Funny it might be but this is still the reality that exists in various lesser known areas even today. My selection kick was good enough to earn me a jersey, shorts, stocking and my first football boots.

U12 Barod Rural team in Yellow. 4th from the right.

I had a very good inter-district tournament and got picked up for the State team that was to travel to Calcutta for the National championship.

At that time the U-12 nationals were held under a government program called NSTC.

There was no looking back since then. As I grew, my focus on football increased and family was very supportive as I was doing well in academics as well. Moreover, football seemed just the right kind of activity to keep my energies occupied into something constructive. What football brought to me at an early age was a sense of discipline, lot of knowledge, travel to various places, self-confidence, humility and a little bit of recognition.

I was very fortunate during my growing up days to have a mentor, Mr. C. Sadanandan, who not only encouraged my football but also directed me in my non-football life.

While I continued representing the State I joined a local club (Rural Stars) that played fair number of games and encouraged young kids like me. Later on a group of football lovers got together and built a club called Providence FC which had a vision to qualify for the National B League after becoming the State champions.

It was during this time that I got selected for the Sports Authority of India scholarship program and trained for one full year at their residential center. I had a tough choice to make between continuing in the SAI center or going back home to focus on my 12^th board examination. I opted for the latter as I always considered education very important. Back in Baroda while I studied hard for the boards I fully got involved with certain self-funding schemes of Providence. We used to manufacture and sell detergents, supply vegetables to homes and retail soaps and aggarbattis. All this to sustain our football club. While I was playing and developing Providence during my graduation years, I as a footballer was again on the crossroads. It was at that time that I managed to get selected for the State team and played the Santosh Trophy in 1998 at Assam. I dreamt of playing for India and becoming a professional footballer but on a practical level that dream seemed unreal. I did study hard to get into one of premier business schools in Ahmedabad and that is where the whole idea of becoming India’s first football marketer germinated.

Harmit: How did you job at Nike come about? Was that your fist job? How long did you spend at Nike and what exactly did you do there?

Sukhvinder: Post my MBA I looked in vain to find a job that was related to football marketing or anywhere close to it. I was fortunate to come across Café Coffee Day at the campus that was looking for self-driven youngsters to drive the brand in the country. I spent 2 years with the company learning and unlearning the concepts of marketing. It was during the second year of my job with CCD that I could see myself getting nearer to my ideal professional job. While I was playing at a neighborhood ground, I bumped into another football lover who happened to be working for Nike which had recently opened its office in Bangalore. That lead was enough for me to pick up the phone and make a call. Before I could reach the HR guy, they had already tracked me down thanks to my footballing friend. 3 rounds of interview was certainly a cakewalk as the only thing we talked about was football and my life. And I love telling the story. The story coupled with a decent knowledge of the marketing world landed me a dream job of sports marketing at Nike.

The profile at Nike consisted of creating and managing the relationship with the Federations (AIFF and BCCI), servicing the kitting deals (Indian National Football Teams and Indian National Cricket teams) signing and servicing of players (Bhaichung, Chhetri, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Anju Bobby George, Mahesh Bhupathi), planning and executing events (Manchester United Premier Cup) and leveraging other quick strike opportunities. I spent exactly 3 years handling sports marketing at Nike and was lucky to have ex-international cricketer, Jatin Paranjape heading the team. I also found a true leader in the Marketing Director of Nike India, Sanjay Gangopadhyay.

Harmit: At Nike, was you focus mainly on cricket or did you also look at other sports?

Sukhvinder: Incidentally, Nike signed with AIFF in 2005 and the BCCI deal was done in 2006. Globally, football is the biggest category for Nike and the company had seen a very high growth rate of this category in India also. That was the basic reason they tried finding a person like me who could grow the brand’s visibility in the football domain. Effectively, Nike’s objective was to create growth for football while cricket was an opportunity to be leveraged.

Apart from football and cricket, I looked after managing relationships with certain chain of fitness centers. I worked closely with Anju Bobby George during her run up to the Olympics. I had the opportunity to create the biggest youth level inter-club football tournament in the country i.e. the MUPC. Nike signed up with the Mumbai School Sports Association in order to contribute to the development of such a phenomenal institution.

Harmit: What do you think made the AIFF realize that they needed some one like you (young person from the private sector)? What made you switch to the AIFF?

Sukhvinder: I believe that the real process of professionalization of AIFF started with the emergence of the Football House in New Delhi. The football house which acted as the head quarters of the federation got its first batch of occupant in 2005 and since then the departments and the systems have been developing in the desired manner. Once the basic structure within the football house was in place it was realized by Mr. P R Dashmunsi and Mr. Alberto Colaco that the federation needs to build their own marketing set-up in order to further the objectives of the AIFF. That’s when the search began to find someone who had the right blend of passion for football and adequate knowledge of marketing. As I had been managing the relationship with the AIFF for close to 3 years I felt like a common resource for Nike as well as the Indian Football. While I did my duties for Nike I got to know more about the realities of football in the country through my interactions with the AIFF. My decision to join AIFF was more of a transition rather than an instant switch. I guess both the organization were appreciative enough of my decision knowing what football means to me and how much I wanted to be a part of the development of the game in India.

Harmit: What have some of your biggest achievements at AIFF that you are really proud of?

Sukhvinder: My marketing job with AIFF started from a very basic level. I actually, had to define the broader marketing vision as well as the finer marketing objectives of the Federation during my initial days. It took us quite a while to create clarities around the assets and properties of the federation that could be turned into viable marketing opportunities. This was the required start that I wanted, post which we had exhaustive interactions with the internal stakeholders and the external potential partners. The toughest part was the alignment and synchronization of our internal systems that would have helped in delivering the promises to our sponsors. It was only after working on these systems and fine tuning the strategies that we could see the results coming after a long time.

I really feel proud to have Coca-Cola as our grassroots partner who not only understood our developmental objectives but also trusted the sport enough to come in as the title sponsor of the sub-junior championship for 3 years. It did take months of efforts and discussions but thanks to Mr. Sunil Kapoor (GM – IMC, Coca-Cola India), finally we had a mutually beneficial model worked out. Moreover we were successfully able to implement the program across the country thereby changing the way AIFF’s National level championships are looked at.

Panasonic partnership is another landmark deal considering it has set a bench mark for all the future deals that shall be established. This deal stresses on partnership that is visible across the spectrum around the National team and does not limit itself to a mere sponsorship exchange. The deal is valued at Rs.14.1 Crore for 3 years and Panasonic is keen on leveraging the association through extensive marketing activities including T.V. commercials, promotions and PR initiatives. This will not only help the brand but also increase the visibility of football in the country.

Another change I shall cherish is the improvisation of the AIFF’s website. The digital platform of the federation is much more user friendly, modern and aesthetic. This has resulted in almost 500% increase in traffic on the website.

Harmit: What have some of your dis-appointments been with respect to your current AIFF role?

Sukhvinder : While changes are being driven within the federation there are certain short comings that restrict the pace of these changes. I do feel satisfied with the progress but it is still a long way to go for the marketing department of AIFF.

One of the biggest misses have been the inactivation of a promotional program around the National team that I had proposed to be called ‘goal11’. This was purely a community based interactive program that was to educate and encourage the fans of Indian football.

Harmit: The IPL has become a benchmark for almost every sport and entertainment property in India? Are there any specific plans that the AIFF has that you can share with us to make football a more attractive entertainment package for the Indian masses?

Sukhvinder: Yes, IPL needs to be considered as a great inspiration from a marketing perspective. While, the intent of AIFF is to make football more attractive, it would be very unfair to compare football directly with cricket. There are certain intrinsic differences between these two games. IPL had a clean slate to work on while football structure suffers from historical legacies. While IPL could get the top world players to play in India, it would be difficult to do so for a football league. The infrastructure for cricket is much superior as compared to that of football.

The best bet for football attractiveness is the intense changes on 3 fronts; the Indian National team, the I-League as well football friendly infrastructure.

There are no short-cuts for football, I must say.

Harmit: Is the AIFF in touch with the Reliance/IMG combine or the talk of the owners of Rajasthan Royals perhaps doing something in the football space?

Sukhvinder: We are appreciative of the interest from various private sector institution and individuals but we have not established any official plans with the companies mentioned above as of now.

Harmit: Is the AIFF in a position to mandate basic things for the Ileague like all matches to be played under floodlights, all matches to be played on the week ends, most if not all games to be telecast etc.

Sukhvinder: Certainly and that is what all the stakeholders i.e. AIFF, Clubs and the State Football Associations are collectively trying to achieve. In fact, the club licensing criteria of the I-League is strategically trying to address various elements like the match venues, training venues, coaches’ qualification, team management, marketing, media, fan development and youth development. The efforts are positively going to contribute to the better structure of the league in general.

Also, on the broadcasting side more expertise is coming in. The telecast of the matches on Ten Sports plus the promotional programs have received good appreciation from the audiences.

Harmit: Why do we not have basic things like – Player of the week/month, Game of the week for which a recording may be offloaded to Doordarshan since they have a much wider reach than Zee Sports/Ten (x days after a game) etc.

Sukhvinder: As the structure and management of the I-League becomes better most of the issues would be sorted out. I am sure that you are aware of the I-League being an independent legal entity now with a separate management altogether. Also, the Zee’s takeover of Ten Sports will result in better bandwidth to the broadcaster to do more.

Honestly, what shall really work for the betterment of the league would be more professional minds coming together and working on it. Must say, that this has started happening.

Harmit: Why is it that the AIFF let go of the womens game for such a long stretch that FIFA suspended the womens national team from the rankings (even though we are back now). Should there not be some even handedness between the time, money and effort the AIFF spends on the mens game versus the womens game.

Sukhvinder: I do concede that the women’s football in the country did suffer from low priority during a particular period. Having realized the deficiency the AIFF has acted promptly and set up a women’s department in order to focus on the women’s football. The positive results in the recent championships and a successful workshop in collaboration with the US Soccer Federation are the signs of the changes that are to come. Undoubtedly, the opportunities around women’s football are many and AIFF is now geared up to capitalize on these.

Harmit: Many thanks for taking the time to talk to us and we wish you the best for carrying on changing Indian Football for the better.