The plight of Indian clubs in Asian football

East Bengal and Kuwait SC in action during their AFC Cup second leg semi-final at Salt Lake stadium on October 22, 2013 in Kolkata, India.

Indian football has been steadily growing since the re-introduction of the I-League and more investment pouring in. Football clubs in this country actually have a lot to look forward to in terms of competitions that their local clubs can contest in. Barring the I-League and the Federation Cup, Asian competitions also await Indian football’s role in them.

The AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup, equivalents of the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League contested across Europe, are major competitions that give Asian club teams a chance to prove their mettle against teams from all over the continent. Indian clubs have taken part in both competitions for quite a while but have seldom gone far. 1967 saw the introduction of the Asian Champions Club tournament after the success of the European Cup.

Here is a lowdown of Indian teams in Asian Football.

AFC Champions League: (Teams that still play in the I-League)

Year	Team	Progress
1985-1986	East Bengal	3^rd in Group Semis
1987-1988	Mohun Bagan	2^nd in Group Stage
1988-1989	Mohun Bagan	4^th in Group Semis
1989-1990	Salgaocar	2^nd in Group Stage
1990-1991	Salgaocar	2^nd in Group Stage
1994-1995	Mohun Bagan	2^nd Round
1995-1996	Mohun Bagan	1^st Round
1997-1998	Churchill Brothers	1^st Round
1998-1999	East Bengal	1^st Round
1999-2000	Mohun Bagan	2^nd Round
2009	Dempo	Qualifiers
2010	Churchill	Qualifiers
2011	Dempo	Qualifiers

It’s easy to see why Indian football hasn’t developed in India unlike other Asian countries as India’s representatives in the AFC Champions League have been from only two states namely West Bengal and Goa. While Shillong, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune bring in added dexterity to the Indian League, the Indian authorities must ensure favorable participation from other states of the country to promulgate football development and culture.

The AFC Champions League follows a points system similar to the UEFA Champions League to allot qualification places. India just misses out on the 600 points required to get an allotted place in the Group Stage places and instead get a playoff place for the reigning I-League Champions. Sad to say, since 2000, no Indian club has gone past the qualifying stage to participate in the AFC Champions League.

According to the AFC’s “Vision Asia” document, participating nations were grouped into developing and mature nations. The developing nations (under which India falls under) are sent to participate in the AFC Cup while the mature nations are sent to the AFC Champions League which is why for the past two years no Indian club has participated in the AFC Champions League.

AFC CUP: (Teams that are still playing in the I-League)

Year	Team	Progress
2004	East Bengal	Quarter Final
2005	Dempo	3^rd in Group Stage
2005	East Bengal	3^rd in Group Stage
2006	Dempo	2^nd in Group Stage
2007	Mohun Bagan	2^nd in Group Stage
2008	East Bengal	3^rd in Group Stage
2008	Dempo	Semi Finals
2009	Mohun Bagan	4^th in Group Stage
2009	Dempo	Round of 16
2010	Churchill Brothers	Round of 16
2011	East Bengal	4^th in Group Stage
2011	Dempo	Round of 16
2012	East Bengal	4^th in Group Stage
2012	Salgaocar	4^th in Group Stage
2013	East Bengal	Semi Finals
2013	Churchill Brothers	3^rd in Group Stage

The performances of Indian clubs in the second tier of Asian football is far better validating the Asian Football Confederation’s view of grouping teams according to the development in football spheres. The same pattern in Bengals and Goa’s dominance in representing India abroad is noticed and must be changed as mentioned earlier.

India, ranked #12 in the developing countries category, should use the AFC Cup as means to compare their footballing standards to other countries in the same assortment and to improve upon failing standards that plagiarize the Indian football setup.

Nations like Iraq, Bahrain, Vietnam, Jordan, Syria, Oman and Indonesia are above India in this scale despite being economically weaker. There would be no benefit to Indian clubs of they were allotted a place in the AFC Champions League only to get knocked out early because the Indian League right now is leaps and bounds behind Asia’s biggest league both in terms of quality and financial muscle. A string of good years in the AFC Cup could do wonders for the mentality and financial status of Indian clubs and encourage positive measures to mar the façade of lackluster development.

The unequal development across Asian football requires the confederation to include other factors barring match results to incorporate teams into the first tier of Asian football. It will require a complete overhaul from the Indian setup to ensure that their incompetent standards will not impede the progress of Indian clubs performing well across the continent.