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Kerala Blasters FC head coach Ivan Vukomanovic has aligned with the Indian Men's Football Team head coach Igor Stimac's statement that it is not the bossman's job to produce players for the national team. He asserted that it is the job of the clubs' youth systems to produce players who will be able to represent India.
The 2023-24 ISL resumes on Saturday, March 30, with a double-header. While Bengaluru FC hosts Odisha FC in the first game, Kerala Blasters FC will be up against Jamshedpur FC at the JRD TATA Sports Complex in the second match of the day.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of Kerala's game against Jamshedpur FC, Vukomanovic said when asked about his opinion on Igor Stimac's statement:
"National team coach is right when he says that he doesn't have to produce players. It's the job of the clubs. It's the job of the youth system of the clubs, saying we need to produce these kinds of players with these profiles. When they go to national teams, they confirm their quality. If you look at the previous 10 years, so mostly foreigners are in positions of strikers or central defenders."
"We need to produce more strikers, central defenders on certain positions," he continued. "You can implement many rules like having at least one player under 21 on the pitch or under 23. And you give a chance to your players and then you work. This is how it goes. That's the only way that you can improve the youth system and football. And at the end who benefits the most? The National team."
"The level of ISL where we are playing is on the lower level than some other competitions" - Ivan Vukomanovic
After a poor outing in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, India failed to put up a dominating display of football yet again having managed just a solitary point in the recently concluded 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers second round fixtures against Afghanistan. While the first game ended in a 0-0 stalemate, the home game at Guwahati saw India losing 1-2 despite a goal lead at the break.
About the dip in performance of players when they play for India compared to how they perform in the ISL, Ivan Vukomanovic not only highlighted the importance of accepting the problems but also opened up by saying:
"The first step to solving any problem is admitting that you have a problem. Many people are not conscious about the reality and the level of international football. We play in ISL and we are conscious about the level that we are facing in ISL. We arrived with the best team in the AFC Asian Cup where we didn't get the results, but it's not a shame. You have to sit down and see what can done next so that we don't experience any more of these situations."
"The reality of ISL is that the level of the league where we are playing is on the lower level than some other competitions. If you want to compete on serious level in qualifications for the World Cup, you must build up at least one or two very good young national teams (Under 17 or 19). If there is no vision connected between the federation and the clubs, it will never happen."
Kerala Blasters FC are currently placed fifth in the ongoing 2023-24 ISL standings with 29 points from 18 matches. With four more matches to go before the playoffs, the team will be looking to end the league phase on a high to gain the much-needed momentum going into the knockouts.
