Asian Games, Football: India’s return to the event heralded by lack of preparation and mismanagement

The Indian football teams return to the Asian Games after nine years and will be hoping to put a fumbling federation and inadequate preparation behind them.

Sep 18, 2023 - 17:30

Asian Games, Football: India’s return to the event heralded by lack of preparation and mismanagement

The Indian men’s and women’s football teams will return to the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China after a gap of nine years.

From the All India Football Federation – the national sports body – negotiating with the country’s sports ministry to allow the teams to participate, to clashes with Indian Super League clubs on releasing their players to feature in the men’s squad, the build-up to the start of the group fixtures on September 19 has been chaotic.

A year ago, the AIFF was banned by Fifa and had to completely restructure their operations in order to be eligible for international competitions. Yet mismanagement remains, and the men’s team will now go to the Asian Games with barely any preparation after a hectic squad selection process.

Confusion galore

On July 26, the Indian football federation confirmed that they had received approval from the Indian Olympic Association and the sports ministry to bypass the selection criteria decided by the Indian government – teams had to be ranked eighth among the participating teams in the last year before the tournament. The men’s team, currently ranked 99, is the 18th best Asian team, while the women’s team (ranked 61) are 11th in the continent.

Five days later, the AIFF announced the men’s squad that featured...