New Delhi: Making India a footballing nation was one of the major agendas discussed in depth during Day 2 of the News9 Global Summit in Stuttgart. Walking into its second day, the event saw several exciting sessions unfolding in the German city on Friday. At the three-day event, sports has been earmarked as one of the major aspects of Indo-German collaboration alongside culture, economy, technology, business, and others.
During the session of “India as a Footballing Nation: A German Template”, the beautiful game was discussed with respect to its low prominence in India and the steps to change its status. Germany has notably been active in the promotion and development of football and has also taken several initiatives to spot, scout, and nurture fresh talent, making them professional stars. Even Bundesliga partnered with the TV9 Network to pledge commitment to nurturing the Indian football ecosystem.
Sudeva Delhi FC’s co-founder Anuj Gupta was one of the four panelists called upon the stage during the interactive session as he shed light on increasing the level of football in India. “We need a poster boy. If we can produce top players from India, that can inspire millions of grassroots players to get into the sport and not look at the performance of the national team but rather look at youth development,” Anuj said. He was also of the opinion that for any sport to excel, one needs role models, which isn’t the case in India.
Anuj also laid emphasis on “patience” which India require to climb up in football. “We need more time and need to be patient to take India to a greater level in football. Hopefully we will produce first professional player very soon and he may play for VfB Stuttgart in the future,” Anuj added.
“In a nutshell, I believe we need to produce one player who plays at the top level in Europe,” says Anuj Gupta, Co-Founder, Sudeva Delhi FC #News9GlobalSummit #News9GlobalSummitGermany #TV9Network #IndiaGermany @bhardwajmeha pic.twitter.com/bHHwhoa7NV
— News9 (@News9Tweets) November 22, 2024
What India actually need to become a footballing nation?
Also speaking at the session was the Chief Marketing & Sales Officer of VfB Stuttgart, Rouven Kasper, who was straight up asked about the biggest things India need to become a footballing nation. Rouven had a very intellectual answer to this as he said, “India need two things to become a footballing nation – need to believe that they can develop football and they need good people.”
“India need two things to become footballing nation – believe that they can develop football and they need good people,” says Rouven Kasper, Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, VfB Stuttgart#News9GlobalSummit #News9GlobalSummitGermany #TV9Network #IndiaGermany @bhardwajmeha pic.twitter.com/wg6WnrrvnQ
— News9 (@News9Tweets) November 22, 2024
Rouven added that the nation need to believe in one “good collaboration” and the “right concept” and a “sustainable way”. “Summarise it (collab), figure out if it is successful or not and find the right people (to excel in football). When there are right people together in one boat and if found the right people for building football, it can flourish heavily,” Rouven said during the session.
Also among the panelists were Kay Dammholz, Director of Media Rights at DFB, and Peer Naubert, the CMO of Bundesliga who too talked in detail about building India’s football ecosystem and what can the nation take away as lessons from Germany to build football from the grassroots level.
Speaking at the News9 Global Summit, Anuj Gupta, the co-founder of Sudeva Delhi FC, emphasised on how India can rise in football in the coming years and the major steps that are needed to be taken to make India a footballing nation. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
