Indian football, players with benefit from allowing OCI card holders to play for national team, asserts Yan Dhanda

This is the third part of the Yan Dhanda interview series.

Indian-origin football player Yan Dhanda spoke exclusively on Khel Now’s ‘Beyond the Scores’ podcast on various topics related to his football career. In the first two parts, Yan Dhanda discussed his conversation with AIFF General Secretary Shaji Prabhakaran and his desire to play for India. In this part, he shares his thought on OCI and Indian citizenship.

The High Court of Delhi recently refused an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) to represent the country on the national level. In its ruling, the court stated that an OCI player cannot represent the National team of India in any sport. India does not grant dual citizenship (a person with passports from multiple countries). Earlier, two separate cards - OCI and PIO were issued but they have now been merged into one. 

Benefits of OCI card holders playing for India

Yan Dhanda iterated, “India is a massive country that has huge football following. As I said many times before, fans travel across India to watch their team play as they love football and everything that surrounds football. Indian fans deserve to see their country play at the World Cup which is one of the biggest countries in the world. They have good players playing in the Indian Leagues and also in Europe. India needs to play in bigger tournaments and show what they can do against quality opponents.”

Yan spoke on the benefits of allowing OCI cardholders to play for India, “The OCI card holders playing for India is going to be beneficial either way. India can qualify to play in the World Cup and the Indian players will be benefitted to play in the European leagues if the FIFA rankings go below the stipulated mark. I have spoken to a few players and obviously, their dream will be to play in Europe and ultimately the Champions League which is one of the biggest leagues. The OCI card holders aren't random football players but rather have a heritage with the country. As I said before it will not only be beneficial for the players but also the country and the fans.”

Host Ashish Negi also touched upon the difficulties that the Sports Ministry might face if they allow OCI cardholders to play for India. If people from another field (technology for example) say they too want an Indian passport alongside their original passport (the country they reside in), then the govt gets into a trap. The Govt and the Sports Federation can come together and discuss the legal route and bring a good solution which will ultimately benefit the country's progress in sports.

Apart from Yan Dhanda, a few players like Omid Singh and Harmeet Singh have also made their desire to play for India. However, with India's stringent legal rules, it remains to be seen if that becomes a possibility.