Sports - India & Indians

[crazywithmath]

The day cauliflower eared olympic level haryanvi wrestlers transition to mma, we will get serious talent and prospects look at what cejudo and cormier achieved in the ufc. The pahadis are doing a good job too but we need a neeraj chopra moment for Indian combat sports. If india does well in mma , it will bring in a lot of money and audience.

Neeraj was coached by an elite Aussie coach (appointed by the Athletics Fed) when he was still a teenager; we have always had a good throwing culture in India, we even produced Olympic finalists in men's and women's discus back at London 2012 - Neeraj and the current generation of throwers are products of that system only.

But an MMA culture has never existed in India (as a matter of fact, there is a higher probability of us getting better at Judo and Taekwondo; a battalion of prospects are rotting in the hands of a bunch of unqualified Indian coaches in Punjab, Haryana and Northeast - a little investment can do wonders there). Setting that trend would take time. Chances are that, some of our wrestlers would start giving MMA a more serious thought given how competitive our wrestling divs are going to turn out in the next few years.

 

[Yuyutsu]

Neeraj was coached by an elite Aussie coach (appointed by the Athletics Fed) when he was still a teenager; we have always had a good throwing culture in India, we even produced Olympic finalists in men's and women's discus back at London 2012 - Neeraj and the current generation of throwers are products of that system only.

But an MMA culture has never existed in India (as a matter of fact, there is a higher probability of us getting better at Judo and Taekwondo; a battalion of prospects are rotting in the hands of a bunch of unqualified Indian coaches in Punjab, Haryana and Northeast - a little investment can do wonders there). Setting that trend would take time. Chances are that, some of our wrestlers would start giving MMA a more serious thought given how competitive our wrestling divs are going to turn out in the next few years.

haryana is a gold mine for UFC and other combat sports , traditional sports like boxing and wrestling can help clear basics then proper training under good coach.
we had puja tomar winning a UFC debut match. anshul jublee did well in one match too.

one championship which is probably the tier 1 MMA we have in asia , even the owner is a indian. had multiple indian winners in starting editions , as ritu phogat and arjan bhullar (indo candaian). now the competition is too much in One championship.

 

[crazywithmath]

haryana is a gold mine for UFC and other combat sports , traditional sports like boxing and wrestling can help clear basics then proper training under good coach.
we had puja tomar winning a UFC debut match. anshul jublee did well in one match too.

one championship which is probably the tier 1 MMA we have in asia , even the owner is a indian. had multiple indian winners in starting editions , as ritu phogat and arjan bhullar (indo candaian). now the competition is too much in One championship.

That is exactly the deal, mate. Ritu was a very avg wrestler and yet, managed to eke out a niche for herself in MMA. Of course the Olympic/worlds medal prospectsc are never going to shift to MMA (because of sponsorships+govt grants/rewards+media attention) but even the tier 2 guys can do wonders if trained well.

 

[addisonjerry79]

Neeraj was coached by an elite Aussie coach (appointed by the Athletics Fed) when he was still a teenager; we have always had a good throwing culture in India, we even produced Olympic finalists in men's and women's discus back at London 2012 - Neeraj and the current generation of throwers are products of that system only.

But an MMA culture has never existed in India (as a matter of fact, there is a higher probability of us getting better at Judo and Taekwondo; a battalion of prospects are rotting in the hands of a bunch of unqualified Indian coaches in Punjab, Haryana and Northeast - a little investment can do wonders there). Setting that trend would take time. Chances are that, some of our wrestlers sports would start giving MMA a more serious thought given how competitive our wrestling divs are going to turn out in the next few years.

Yes i see this

 

[Azaad]

View: https://twitter.com/MichaelMMG71/status/1900551633425047938?s=19

 

[Azaad]

Surat's Vispy Kharadi On World Record For Holding Hercules Pillars: "Proved Them Wrong"

Mr Kharadi addressed the achievement while challenging the notion that Indians are genetically weaker than athletes from other nations.

www.ndtv.com

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/nGRlyKCBJ-I?si=Ew_4Y4ZsRuasMI1n

Dickraa from Surat making India proud. You may be interested ! @johny_baba

 

[SKC]

Surat's Vispy Kharadi On World Record For Holding Hercules Pillars: "Proved Them Wrong"

Mr Kharadi addressed the achievement while challenging the notion that Indians are genetically weaker than athletes from other nations.

www.ndtv.com

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/nGRlyKCBJ-I?si=Ew_4Y4ZsRuasMI1n

Dickraa from Surat making India proud. You may be interested ! @johny_baba

Parsi but still from Indo-Iranian fold!

Need more pure Indians to try this out.

 

[ArjunMK1A]

View: https://twitter.com/MichaelMMG71/status/1900551633425047938?s=19

Need to see his average Throw distance? These 80+ maybe top throws. If he already averaging consistent 80+m mark, then it is a next big deal.

AFI should concentrate on Javelin atleast in Men's and Women's. We have prospects in Men and also need to encourage few women players who have potential.

 

[ArjunMK1A]

Meanwhile in Football.

We defeated Island nation Maldives 3-0. This is the first Win after very long time, I believe an year.

India 3 - 0 Maldives: Chhetri scores 95th as Marquez gets first win

ESPN brings you live score updates and detailed commentary from the India vs Maldives football friendly.

www.espn.in

To do this we were forced to call then retired chetri to do the job, since we don't have strikers in the Team.

Also the ELO rating we were in sad position.

World Football Elo Ratings

Ratings for national football teams based on the Elo rating system.

www.eloratings.net

India - 162.

Meanwhile FDSL (Reilance) trying to hijack the Indian Football itself. Further destroying the I-League clubs. AIFF meanwhile proves to be incompetent as always.

Never seen such a sorry of an Organisation who can't have any vision. As for India is concerned we were in bottom of the barrel for 2-3 decades now. Nothing improved except coaches getting changed.

 

[SKC]

Meanwhile in Football.

We defeated Island nation Maldives 3-0. This is the first Win after very long time, I believe an year.

India 3 - 0 Maldives: Chhetri scores 95th as Marquez gets first win

ESPN brings you live score updates and detailed commentary from the India vs Maldives football friendly.

www.espn.in

To do this we were forced to call then retired chetri to do the job, since we don't have strikers in the Team.

Also the ELO rating we were in sad position.

World Football Elo Ratings

Ratings for national football teams based on the Elo rating system.

www.eloratings.net

India - 162.

Meanwhile FDSL (Reilance) trying to hijack the Indian Football itself. Further destroying the I-League clubs. AIFF meanwhile proves to be incompetent as always.

Never seen such a sorry of an Organisation who can't have any vision. As for India is concerned we were in bottom of the barrel for 2-3 decades now. Nothing improved except coaches getting changed.

We are happy beating Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh!!

Even Middle Eastern Nations beat us soundly!

 

[crazywithmath]

Meanwhile in Football.

We defeated Island nation Maldives 3-0. This is the first Win after very long time, I believe an year.

India 3 - 0 Maldives: Chhetri scores 95th as Marquez gets first win

ESPN brings you live score updates and detailed commentary from the India vs Maldives football friendly.

www.espn.in

To do this we were forced to call then retired chetri to do the job, since we don't have strikers in the Team.

Also the ELO rating we were in sad position.

World Football Elo Ratings

Ratings for national football teams based on the Elo rating system.

www.eloratings.net

India - 162.

ELO rankings are irrelevant. Only FIFA rankings matter.

Meanwhile FDSL (Reilance) trying to hijack the Indian Football itself. Further destroying the I-League clubs. AIFF meanwhile proves to be incompetent as always.

Never seen such a sorry of an Organisation who can't have any vision. As for India is concerned we were in bottom of the barrel for 2-3 decades now. Nothing improved except coaches getting changed.

If you kick out Reliance who else will pour money in football? I League clubs have been here for decades, what have they done?

We are happy beating Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh!!

Even Middle Eastern Nations beat us soundly!

You get what you pay for. We barely spend a fraction of the resources the richer middle eastern nations pour in football. Also, football is the only sport those nations are good at so there is that.

There was some progress between 2017 and 2019 when Stephen Constantine was managing our NT. After he resigned, a Croatian fraud was appointed and it went downhill after that.

 

[SKC]

You get what you pay for. We barely spend a fraction of the resources the richer middle eastern nations pour in football. Also, football is the only sport those nations are good at so there is that.

There was some progress between 2017 and 2019 when Stephen Constantine was managing our NT. After he resigned, a Croatian fraud was appointed and it went downhill after that.

Who is "We" here? Indian Govt, Footbal federation or private clubs?

Enough money has flown into Indian Football without any meaningful return then why would anyone spend extra money?

I have no sympathy for Indian Football and don't support them anymore.​

 

[crazywithmath]

Who is "We" here? Indian Govt, Footbal federation or private clubs?​

It has to be govt. It is them who fund sports federations in this country and schemes like TOPS, Khelo India. They also sponsor major tournaments through PSUs and provide direct/indirect employement to a lot of players. Heck, even the coaches are employed by SAI (and not the respective federation).

Enough money has flown into Indian Football without any meaningful return then why would anyone spend extra money?​

The AIFF has an annual budget of 134 crore. That's literally peanuts? For some comparison;

The Australian FA has an annual revenue worth 605 crore.

The Korean FA has sponsorhip income worth 300 crore annually and pledged US$ 3.4 million for a state-of-the-art football training centre.

The Saudi govt spent close to US$ 1 billion just to sign some global superstars.

The avg Indian Super Leage (our top division) club has a market value of INR 30-35 crore.

Indian Super League - Club market value

This page contains a statistic that shows a tendency of the development of the full market value of Indian Super League up to the respective due date.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

Now look at the elite leagues in Asia,

Saudi Pro League - Club market value

This page contains a statistic that shows a tendency of the development of the full market value of Saudi Pro League up to the respective due date.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

UAE Pro League - Club market value

This page contains a statistic that shows a tendency of the development of the full market value of UAE Pro League up to the respective due date.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

Qatar Stars League - Club market value

This page contains a statistic that shows a tendency of the development of the full market value of Qatar Stars League up to the respective due date.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

J1 League 2025

This is the page for the J1 League, with an overview of fixtures, tables, dates, squads, market values, statistics and history.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

K League 1 2025

This is the page for the K League 1, with an overview of fixtures, tables, dates, squads, market values, statistics and history.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

These are some absurd amounts - the most expensive club of India (Mohun Bagan) is worth less then the least expensive clubs of these leagues.

You can expect results if and when you match up these numbers - football is an insanely expensive and competitive sport. It takes a lot of resources to fare well.

I probably sound like a broken record but the solution is simple;

Grow the economy -> amass a lot of spare resources -> pour them on sports -> bag titles/medals

I have no sympathy for Indian Football and don't support them anymore.​

That's up to you, none of my business.

 

[SKC]

It has to be govt. It is them who fund sports federations in this country and schemes like TOPS, Khelo India. They also sponsor major tournaments through PSUs and provide direct/indirect employement to a lot of players. Heck, even the coaches are employed by SAI (and not the respective federation).



The AIFF has an annual budget of 134 crore. That's literally peanuts? For some comparison;

The Australian FA has an annual revenue worth 605 crore.

The Korean FA has sponsorhip income worth 300 crore annually and pledged US$ 3.4 million for a state-of-the-art football training centre.

The Saudi govt spent close to US$ 1 billion just to sign some global superstars.

The avg Indian Super Leage (our top division) club has a market value of INR 30-35 crore.

Indian Super League - Club market value

This page contains a statistic that shows a tendency of the development of the full market value of Indian Super League up to the respective due date.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

Now look at the elite leagues in Asia,

Saudi Pro League - Club market value

This page contains a statistic that shows a tendency of the development of the full market value of Saudi Pro League up to the respective due date.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

UAE Pro League - Club market value

This page contains a statistic that shows a tendency of the development of the full market value of UAE Pro League up to the respective due date.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

Qatar Stars League - Club market value

This page contains a statistic that shows a tendency of the development of the full market value of Qatar Stars League up to the respective due date.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

J1 League 2025

This is the page for the J1 League, with an overview of fixtures, tables, dates, squads, market values, statistics and history.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

K League 1 2025

This is the page for the K League 1, with an overview of fixtures, tables, dates, squads, market values, statistics and history.

www.transfermarkt.co.in

These are some absurd amounts - the most expensive club of India (Mohun Bagan) is worth less then the least expensive clubs of these leagues.

You can expect results if and when you match up these numbers - football is an insanely expensive and competitive sport. It takes a lot of resources to fare well.



That's up to you, none of my business.

We dont have oil money to spend billions or even millions on these sports where they dont perform any good.
Club football has more history in India then Cricket and we should have had decent bench by now. But our players fails to beat few poor nations too which operates on much less budget than us.

Cricket became beast on its own with much less budget and there was time when they had to organize concerts to fund their players but that did not deter the Cricketing talent in the nation and with the rise of talent, we went on to reach where we are now in world Cricket.

Don't expect Govt to fund each and every game when you don't get anything in return.

Most big sports are run by their own governing bodies which are mostly not under Govt with exception of Non-democratic nations like in Middle east and China.

ISL is running for over a decade now and has provided more than decent pay to the local footballers but still we don't see a single player of global caliber.​

 

[ArjunMK1A]

ELO rankings are irrelevant. Only FIFA rankings matter.


If you kick out Reliance who else will pour money in football? I League clubs have been here for decades, what have they done?



You get what you pay for. We barely spend a fraction of the resources the richer middle eastern nations pour in football. Also, football is the only sport those nations are good at so there is that.

There was some progress between 2017 and 2019 when Stephen Constantine was managing our NT. After he resigned, a Croatian fraud was appointed and it went downhill after that.

ELO Rankings were more accurate than FIFA ranking. 162 vs 128. We play like 162nd ranked team than 128. We can be happy about our Fifa Rank 128 for our consolation as we avoid playing against top tier Asian Team.

I league clubs don't even get any broadcast revenue, AIFF can't even assign an Broadcasting partner. Mohun Bagan, Bengaluru FC, Mohammaden, Punjab FC, East Bengal were all I league clubs playing in ISL.

Reliance wants to gate keep the ISL with no relegation and already viewership is tanking and they want AIFF to stop taking revenue. They want an 2nd tier while further throwing I league clubs to extinction. I league clubs like Shillong Lajong, TRAU, Aizawal FC, Gokulam Kerala, Dempo, Churchill brothers have better crowd support than some ISL clubs. Reliance pumping money into the system but now it wants to hijack the Football itself. Either get the Football structure into force or better leave the system as it is. The new approach will screw the Indian Football system.

We are spending lot of money in ISL. This forced Indian players to simply sit in ISL itself instead of trying to get into lower European league since the salary is good here. Thus no improvement in playing style. The fact we called Chetri is such a shame lol. Can't even find a reliable Striker in India.

Indian Football just exists as undisputed SAFF champions for decades. Neither improved nor regressed.

 

[crazywithmath]

ELO Rankings were more accurate than FIFA ranking. 162 vs 128. We play like 162nd ranked team than 128. We can be happy about our Fifa Rank 128 for our consolation as we avoid playing against top tier Asian Team.

This is akin to taking the so-called 'global hunger index' more seriously than the annual gdp numbers. A team cannot 'avoid' playing against top tier Asian teams - you play whom you get drawn with. And the NT have played Syria, Vietnam, Kuwait, Qatar, Australia, Uzbekistan in 2024 - all of them are top tier teams.

Reliance wants to gate keep the ISL with no relegation and already viewership is tanking and they want AIFF to stop taking revenue.

Why do you even want relegations in a 13 team league? At least wait till we have 16-18 teams in the top flight?

They want an 2nd tier while further throwing I league clubs to extinction.

How is this true? I League champions are promoted to the top flight.

I league clubs like Shillong Lajong, TRAU, Aizawal FC, Gokulam Kerala, Dempo, Churchill brothers have better crowd support than some ISL clubs.

Dempo, Churchill play before empty stands. Right now, only Gokulam and a handful of northeastern teams can boast of meaningful crowd support.

Reliance pumping money into the system but now it wants to hijack the Football itself. Either get the Football structure into force or better leave the system as it is. The new approach will screw the Indian Football system.

I am not sure how long you have been following these developments but I have seen how the old I League structure operated. When matches would be played at God forsaken pitches and nobody would bother to turn up in the stands. When random Nigerian guys would be signed up as foreigners (called 'Khep' players in Kolkata maidan terms). Not sure what is there to reminisce over I League, of all.

We are spending lot of money in ISL.

No, we are not. We have been only pumping a bit more than the old I League era. I have provided a direct comparison between the ISL and the elite Asian Leagues (in terms of market values) in my previous post above. The most expensive Indian club would also be considered the least expensive one in the Saudi Pro League or the Qatar Stars League, or even the J League (where clubs have lower market values because the best domestic players typically play in Europe) - if Mohun Bagan were to play in one of those leagues, that is.

For defence nerds, this is akin to expecting the Kaveri programme to succed despite committing only a tiny fraction of the resources the other successful developers did.

 

[SKC]

No, we are not. We have been only pumping a bit more than the old I League era. I have provided a direct comparison between the ISL and the elite Asian Leagues (in terms of market values) in my previous post above. The most expensive Indian club would also be considered the least expensive one in the Saudi Pro League or the Qatar Stars League, or even the J League (where clubs have lower market values because the best domestic players typically play in Europe) - if Mohun Bagan were to play in one of those leagues, that is.

Brother you are directly comparing us with Saudis and Qataris - literally the Richest Oil-Money Nations!

Please have some realistic comparison.

Saudis are now planning for $1Billion Cricket league out of nowhere. They have money spare to spend in these leagues which are nothing sort of White Elephant leagues with 90% imported players.​

 

[Vinash]

Both can be true i.e Indian Football is heavily under-funded and you can still create a miracle and draw eye balls to the sport akin to 1983 WC for Cricket.

Granted winning a Cricket WC is a lot easier than Football WC but Indian Football team is so bad, they struggle to even beat Afghanistan. Money won't come into the sport in such circumstances.

 

[crazywithmath]

Brother you are directly comparing us with Saudis and Qataris - literally the Richest Oil-Money Nations!

Please have some realistic comparison.

Saudis are now planning for $1Billion Cricket league out of nowhere. They have money spare to spend in these leagues which are nothing sort of White Elephant leagues with 90% imported players.​

UAE, Saudi, Qatar, Oman are tiny economies. They do not have the scale like us. We are not doing a per capita comparison here. If you look at hockey, the amount of money we pump into the infrastructure and grassroots is on par with the likes of Germany, Australia, Belgiul and the Netherlands. And it shows up in the results. Not the case in football.

Both can be true i.e Indian Football is heavily under-funded and you can still create a miracle and draw eye balls to the sport akin to 1983 WC for Cricket.

You cannot have 'miracles' in football. Not in 2025, anyway. It is the most competitive sport in the world for a reason.

Granted winning a Cricket WC is a lot easier than Football WC but Indian Football team is so bad, they struggle to even beat Afghanistan. Money won't come into the sport in such circumstances.

Because the AIFF (the Indian FA) was forced to appoint a Croatian fraud as the NT manager (who came cheap) owing to tight budgets and in turn ignored the applications from a number of accomplished managers like Sven Goan Ericsson, Albert Roca, Sam Allardyce and Alberto Zaccerini. Stephen, the old manager, had a history of performing with lower ranked nations and nearly took us to the Asian Cup knockouts (if not for a 91st minute penalty in our final group game against Bahrain) - with him gone all of that progress was flushed down the gutter.

So yeah, we are again back to the money problems.

 

[SKC]

UAE, Saudi, Qatar, Oman are tiny economies. They do not have the scale like us. We are not doing a per capita comparison here. If you look at hockey, the amount of money we pump into the infrastructure and grassroots is on par with the likes of Germany, Australia, Belgiul and the Netherlands. And it shows up in the results. Not the case in football.



You cannot have 'miracles' in football. Not in 2025, anyway. It is the most competitive sport in the world for a reason.



Because the AIFF (the Indian FA) was forced to appoint a Croatian fraud as the NT manager (who came cheap) because of tight budgets and in turn ignored the applications from a number of accomplished managers like Sven Goan Ericsson, Albert Roca, Sam Allardyce and Alberto Zaccerini. Stephen, the old manager, had a history of performing with lower ranked nations and nearly took us to the Asian Cup knockouts (if not for a 91st minute penalty against Bahrain) - with him gone all of that progress was flushed down the gutter.

So yeah, we are again back to the money problems.

You are in big denial mode here.

Here are the GDP per capita figures for the countries you mentioned:

• Saudi Arabia: Approximately $28,895.
• United Arab Emirates (UAE): Around $52,977.
• Oman: About $23,295.

They have money that's why they have invested in Sports league.

You don't need Miracles but performance. How else Morocco suddenly reached Football WC Semifinal out of nowhere?