By Samindra Kunti
April 4 – The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is to launch a new invitational Champions Cup for national teams, with the first edition to be held in August 2017. The Champions Cup will replace the old Nehru Cup.
The tournament will be played among four countries and could see participation from teams in Asia, Africa and North America. The AIFF disclosed that it is in talks with various FA’s from the AFC, CAF and CONCACAF to invite opponents of standing for the tournament.
The Indian FA wants to increase the number of home games for its national team, with the AIFF also highlighting their intent to “consistently climb” up the FIFA rankings by playing “good” opponents. The Champions Cup will ensure that the national train and play more often through the year.
Under English coach Stephen Constantine the ‘Blue Tigers’ have won 11 of their last 13 games. They are unbeaten in two away games this year, beating Cambodia in a friendly and Myanmar in the first of their 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers. The winning streak and good form may well catapult India into the FIFA top 100.
India will play four more Asian Cup qualifiers this calendar year, with another two friendlies scheduled against Lebanon in June and Palestine in October. Three matches at the Champions Cup may make this one of the busiest years for the Indian national team yet.
“We are quite excited on the prospect of introducing the new Champions Cup from 2017,” said AIFF general secretary Kushal Das. “AIFF and its partner FSDL have worked together over the last couple of months in studying the past and current year’s National Team engagements and how other countries are performing in Asia. The introduction of the Champions Cup is a result of conscious efforts at our end to ensure the National Team receives enough Training Camps, International Friendlies as well as competitive games.”
The format of the Champions Cup is reminiscent of the old Nehru Cup, the original multi-nation tournament in India that was launched in 1982 with a strong field, including Uruguay, China and South Korea. The second edition of the Nehru Cup welcomed Argentina in 1984. India beat their illustrious opponents by a single goal. Argentina would go on to win the 1986 World Cup two years later.
But in recent times the Nehru Cup came to a slow demise, with its last edition held in 2012. India won, but the field of participants was poor.
The creation of the Champions Cup may be a recognition by the AIFF’s partners IMG-Reliance that the national team, notwithstanding the glamor and glitz of the Indian Super League, generates a lot of traction. An improved national team may improve the general outlook of Indian football, but much will depend on which opponents the AIFF will manage to pin down for the Champions Cup.
Contact the writer of this story at samindra.kunti@insideworldfootball.com
