Dubai: Luis Figo believes India’s hosting of the Fifa U17 World Cup can be the shot in the arm the nation needs to boost its profile within world football.
Former Barcelona and Real Madrid star Figo, who was in Dubai for the launch of the Premier Futsal event earlier this week, said India has to capitalise on having such a prestigious footballing event in the country.
The stars of tomorrow from 24 nations such as Brazil, England, Germany, Spain and the hosts will battle it out across India from October 6 to October 28.
“The U17 World Cup will be among the greatest opportunities for India to cater to its youth. To start with, India must organise a fantastic event and then India will get more projects in football and in other sports, and this can help develop the entire sporting sector,” Figo told media.
And part of doing that can be through Premier Futsal, the semi-finals and final of which will be held in Dubai in August, he said.
“We are pleased that the first season of Premier Futsal has given many Indian youngsters the opportunity to excel on an international platform. We will continue to work to make our Premier Futsal even bigger and make it more global while continuing to give opportunities to youngsters to play,” the former Portuguese hero, capped 127 times for his country, added.
Premier Futsal has a unique format with each of the six teams allowed one marquee signing alongside a handful of top professional futsal players and locally-recruited players through various talent hunts across India. Last year’s inaugural edition saw the Ryan Giggs-led Mumbai 5s defeat Kochi 5s in a penalty shoot-out to bag the crown, while the Ronaldinho-led Goa 5s ended up in third place.
“It is important for the kids to have former stars playing as they get an easy reference point. We know that the number one sport in India is cricket and it will take a huge effort to shake off that reality,” Figo observed.
“But India as a country has great passion for sport and we need to ride this passion. There is a huge community of youngsters and if they decide to follow any other sport other than cricket, then it is our responsibility to give them this platform,” the 44-year-old added.
Figo was further convinced that futsal will play a huge role in further tapping into the sporting side of India. “Most of the great footballers have played futsal at some point in their careers. This is because it is not too complicated to find facilities needed to play futsal. The playing area is much smaller,” he said.
“In India specifically, it will help a lot to introduce a new sport like futsal and give the kids an opportunity to practice in their neighbourhood. Today, futsal has a huge following and I have no doubts that a tournament like Premier Futsal will help the development of this sport, not just in India, but all over the world. And the involvement of the legends will only push this forward,” Figo added.
