NEVER MIND THE COWBOYS, WHERE ARE THE INDIANS?

It's bad enough getting stuffed by the Indians at cricket. Well, we are playing away from home of course and I expect there are loads of injuries, I blame the food. Will India catch us up in football? With a population of 1.25 billion (yes that's just a tad fewer than China) there must a few super stars waiting to be "developed" on the sub-continent. As the "Emperors" carry their skills into the "New World", football may soon catch up cricket. Ranked 137th in FIFA's list, India's football is on the way up, just.

Michael Chopra, who father is Indian, is turning out for the Kerala Blasters in the 8 club strong Hero Indian Super League, which is not part of the Indian Pyramid. The league sponsored by IMG-Reliance (industries), was founded in October 2013, the first championship title was won in 2014.

Michael  spent years in the English Football League playing at Newcastle, Barnsley, Cardiff, Sunderland, Ipswich and Blackpool, learning his trade. After a short spell putting all that to one side when he played at Alloa Athletic, Michael returned to his family roots and joined the Blasters in 2014.

Managed by Steve Coppell he played along side Northern Ireland defender Aaron Hughes and ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Graham Stack (who?). There is an international squad at Kerala, who play in the league "hosted" by Broadcaster Star Sports.

Other clubs in the league (and this is where you should get out the atlas) come from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai (scene of an England cricket XI debacle), Guwahati and Margoa.

Named players plying their trade include Postiga, Zico, Materazzi, John Arne Risse, Malouda, Lucio, Forlan, Sissoko (one of them?) and Ian Hume from Tranmere, who is Kolkata's top scorer. Del Piero, quite famous!, is earning £1.17m in the Indian 3 month season which begins in October.

Owners of clubs include Bollywood film stars, Sourav Ganguly, that average batsman Kohli and Athletico Madrid! There is also a Villareal Academy set up in a national wide U18 league.

The good news is that English is a common language in India, rolling over from the Empire of course, so that makes life easy for our chaps and crowds average 25,000+ and some attract 65,000+.
http://www.indiansuperleague.com/

Restructuring is in progress as the AIFF will develop two leagues making the ISL more attractive than the present I-League. Football is expanding. Next year the Indians host the FIFA U17 World Cup.