MUMBAI: Watching Qatar outclass India in their Fifa World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 joint qualifier at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday left Arsene Wenger convinced that this was the ideal time for him to try and lend Indian football a helping hand.
On his maiden visit to the country to set up the inaugural Fifa-AIFF Talent Academy at the Odisha Football Academy in Bhubaneswar, Arsenal‘s legendary former manager did not hold back in his assessment of what the Blue Tigers were able to deliver against the reigning Asian champions.
“Honestly, I feel that the Indian team didn’t perform well. Qatar had a deserved win,” Wenger, who is now Fifa’s chief of global football development, said at a press conference with AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey here on Wednesday. “It reinforced my desire to change things in India. Qatar was, from what we could see, the best team by a good distance. And that’s what we want to change.”
The newly launched academy is where Wenger and former India international Chaubey, are eager to see that change begin to unfold. For a man who, during his decorated tenure as Arsenal boss, once famously remarked, “We don’t sign superstars, we make them”, Wenger insisted that player education was the main hurdle holding back Indian football from reaching its true potential.
“I ask you one question. You take three boys, one born in Mumbai, one born in Sao Paulo and one born in Paris. Is there a difference between the three after one day, football wise? No! Is there a difference after one year? No. After 15 years, is there a difference in quality of the three players? I would say yes. And if I ask you if after 20 years, is there a difference in the quality of the three, I would say yes. And that in our opinion, is only down to, not because when you are French, you are a better football player, but just because you got the education that is needed to develop a football player,” said the 74-year-old Frenchman.
“The differences between the country is linked to the quality of education. And that’s why we are here. And that’s what the academy wants to achieve, to wipe out that difference by (providing) the quality of education.”
Another obvious area, which, Wenger said, Fifa’s collaboration with AIFF would be looking to address, was the identification of talent across the country. “The challenges in India are very simple. First of all, we need to better the identification of talent inside the country. We start with that. I must say I’m convinced, in India, not every talent gets a chance,” Wenger said. “In the last three days, we spoke a lot about the promise from both sides. I feel that we have cooperation here. Ideally we want 40 academies so that nobody misses to detect talent in this country.”
The average Indian football fan’s preference for the European game over the domestic offering was not lost on Wenger, who accepted that as a trait which could only change with time. “It’s difficult but I must say, from us, it’s very exciting and very interesting. When I see the television audience in India, unfortunately it’s not (for) the Indian game, it’s the European games,” he said with a smile. “That means the love for the game is there. But people want to watch quality, so we have to produce quality.
“What has changed in the last 20 years is, people have access to the top 10 leagues in the world. We want to give them what is local. People are not stupid, they are intelligent, they can compare. So we have to do something together to develop the potential of a country which is 20 per cent of the world population. It’s so obvious and easy to see what has to be done. Now we have to do it.”
On his maiden visit to the country to set up the inaugural Fifa-AIFF Talent Academy at the Odisha Football Academy in Bhubaneswar, Arsenal‘s legendary former manager did not hold back in his assessment of what the Blue Tigers were able to deliver against the reigning Asian champions.
“Honestly, I feel that the Indian team didn’t perform well. Qatar had a deserved win,” Wenger, who is now Fifa’s chief of global football development, said at a press conference with AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey here on Wednesday. “It reinforced my desire to change things in India. Qatar was, from what we could see, the best team by a good distance. And that’s what we want to change.”
The newly launched academy is where Wenger and former India international Chaubey, are eager to see that change begin to unfold. For a man who, during his decorated tenure as Arsenal boss, once famously remarked, “We don’t sign superstars, we make them”, Wenger insisted that player education was the main hurdle holding back Indian football from reaching its true potential.
“I ask you one question. You take three boys, one born in Mumbai, one born in Sao Paulo and one born in Paris. Is there a difference between the three after one day, football wise? No! Is there a difference after one year? No. After 15 years, is there a difference in quality of the three players? I would say yes. And if I ask you if after 20 years, is there a difference in the quality of the three, I would say yes. And that in our opinion, is only down to, not because when you are French, you are a better football player, but just because you got the education that is needed to develop a football player,” said the 74-year-old Frenchman.
“The differences between the country is linked to the quality of education. And that’s why we are here. And that’s what the academy wants to achieve, to wipe out that difference by (providing) the quality of education.”
Another obvious area, which, Wenger said, Fifa’s collaboration with AIFF would be looking to address, was the identification of talent across the country. “The challenges in India are very simple. First of all, we need to better the identification of talent inside the country. We start with that. I must say I’m convinced, in India, not every talent gets a chance,” Wenger said. “In the last three days, we spoke a lot about the promise from both sides. I feel that we have cooperation here. Ideally we want 40 academies so that nobody misses to detect talent in this country.”
The average Indian football fan’s preference for the European game over the domestic offering was not lost on Wenger, who accepted that as a trait which could only change with time. “It’s difficult but I must say, from us, it’s very exciting and very interesting. When I see the television audience in India, unfortunately it’s not (for) the Indian game, it’s the European games,” he said with a smile. “That means the love for the game is there. But people want to watch quality, so we have to produce quality.
“What has changed in the last 20 years is, people have access to the top 10 leagues in the world. We want to give them what is local. People are not stupid, they are intelligent, they can compare. So we have to do something together to develop the potential of a country which is 20 per cent of the world population. It’s so obvious and easy to see what has to be done. Now we have to do it.”
