The biggest sporting event on the planet, the FIFA World Cup with an audience reach of 3.4 billion, leaves one billion Indians pondering once again over that old haunting question — will India ever play a football World Cup?
This time, the answer to such a question comes on an air of optimism primarily owing to the commercial success of Indian Super League (ISL), and the excitement it generates. One could see staunch optimists cling to an ‘irresistible’ fact of a sharp ascendance in India’s FIFA world rankings during the four years since the inception of ISL: from the worst-ever 171st position in 2014 to 97th position in 2018. Will Team India make it into the World Cup arena carried on the wings of its new professional football league?
A peek into the global ranking of football clubs would reveal a correlation between a nation’s World Cup qualification and the existence of established football leagues with top-performing clubs. Europe and South America are clear examples, yet one could see a similar correlation in the rest of the world as well.
In the case of North America, the two footballing nations that qualified for the Russian World Cup — Mexico and Costa Rica — are both home to the top 15 football clubs in the continent. On the other hand, the two prominent North American countries that didn’t qualify — the US and Canada — have only ‘mediocre’ football leagues with low-ranking clubs. Though not as strongly correlated, a comparable pattern can also be seen in Asia and Africa. The African nations playing in Russia have some of the well-known football leagues and clubs. Fifteen out of the top 25 football clubs in Asia belong to those countries that qualified for the World Cup (South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Japan). However, it should be noted that a wealthy league with rapidly flourishing football clubs by no means guarantee a nation the World Cup entry. The ‘ridiculously rich’ Chinese Super League is perhaps the best example.
After the inception of the new professional league system in 2004, Chinese football clubs climb Asian rankings owing to the mega money deals with celebrity players. Last year, the Argentina striker Carlos Tevez became “the world’s highest paid footballer” when he signed the contract with a Shanghai-based club on a per week salary of $820,000.
A few months back, Guangzhou Evergrande — the top-notch Chinese club jointly owned by the e-commerce gaint Alibaba — was ranked fourth among the most economically powerful football clubs in the world.
Even though many Chinese Super League players from abroad are representing their national teams in Russia, China failed miserably to qualify for the World Cup. China’s breakdown at the qualifying round is a wake-up call to the fact that a wealthy football league by itself do not assure, perhaps even subvert, the building of a strong national team.