"Grassroots efforts lack serious implementation", Bhaichung Bhutia criticises AIFF's approach for Vision 2047

Bhaichung Bhutia was in attendance at the AIFF’s Executive Committee meeting on April 7.

Former Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia has raised strong concerns over the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) Vision 2047, particularly questioning the seriousness of its grassroots development plans during AIFF’s Executive Committee meeting on Monday, April 7. Speaking exclusively to Khel Now, the Indian Football legend relayed that while the federation continues to speak about long-term goals, the implementation at the ground level remains far from convincing.

Bhutia highlighted how many grassroots initiatives are limited to just 20 or 30 days, during which events are conducted, numbers are celebrated, and then everything is wrapped up. This, he believes, defeats the purpose of development, as children are left without training or competition for the rest of the year. In his view, true grassroots growth demands sustained programs that offer consistent training and competitive exposure.

“They were talking about Vision 47, the grassroots, and all that. And the budget. So, I told them — see, Vision 47 has to be implemented seriously on the ground. Today, a lot of us are doing it only for the grassroots because, in one month or 20 days, your grassroots work is finished. And everybody’s clapping and feeling proud — 2,000 kids, 50,000 kids, 10 teams, 100 teams participated,” said Bhaichung Bhutia.

“I said, that’s not the way to develop grassroots. Because after one month, for the next 11 months, the kids have no football — no training, no competition. It has to be longer in terms of both training and competition. Even in their Vision 24/7 grassroots program, they themselves say there needs to be a six-month-long tournament and training program in every state,” he added.

Bhaichung Bhutia opens up on a surprising declaration made at the AIFF Ex-Co meet!! Has AIFF already decided the I-League winners? @7negiashish ✍️#IndianFootball #AIFF #ILeague #ILeagueTitleRacehttps://t.co/PNOfTWYz4n

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) April 7, 2025

Bhaichung Bhutia calls out uneven financial allocation by AIFF

Bhaichung Bhutia also criticized the financial allocations under the initiative. States receive ₹24 lakh, but with ₹12 lakh earmarked for salaries and administration, only half is available for organizing competitions. Bhutia called this insufficient, especially when the goal is to run extensive leagues and tournaments across all age groups.

“I said ₹12 lakh for a state to run competitions is very little. They’re giving ₹24 lakh — ₹12 lakh for salaries and office and ₹12 lakh for competition. I said you can’t do all the grassroots competitions, leagues, and everything on ₹12 lakh. You need to increase it. The funding to the states has to go up — especially for grassroots. Only then will you actually produce players,” he added.

He insists that increasing the budget and technical support to the states is essential. Without serious investment and accountability, Bhutia warns that India will continue to struggle in producing talent, especially in key positions like strikers, and miss the very goals Vision 2047 sets out to achieve.

“Otherwise, 20 years from now, we’ll still be sitting and asking why Indian football hasn’t improved. Why don’t we have any new strikers? There’s no striker apart from Sunil Chhetri, ” he added.

“Until and unless you do it seriously, we’re not going to progress. You need to increase the budget, provide states with both technical knowledge and financial support, and then put pressure — ask them why they aren’t doing it, “

” After giving them money, after giving them technical support — if they still don’t do it, then you can apply pressure. Right now, states are obviously struggling — they don’t have the money or the technical know-how. But the AIFF has both — money and technical knowledge — so give it. That’s how you’ll actually produce players. And in the end, it’s the players who are going to play and get results for India,” he concluded.

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