For Arsène Wenger, there is a “gold mine” of talent in India

While India is in 102nd place in the FIFA rankings and has never participated in any World Cup finals, Arsène Wenger believes that the Asian country has the assets to play a more important role on the world stage. “My goal is to advance football around the world. And it is impossible for a country like India, which has 1,4 billion inhabitants, not to be on the world football map., declared the director of world football development at FIFA on Monday.

“My main goal is to convince people that there is a gold mine here, but at the moment it is not fully explored, exploited and encouraged”, underlined the former Arsenal manager, during a meeting with the president of the Indian Federation.

“Huge assets, fantastic qualities”

The 74-year-old technician is campaigning for a vast football development program to be launched in India, like what Japan did in the 1990s. “I was in Japan when football really took off there in 1995. In 1998 they were in the World Cup,” recalled the former Nagoya coach (1994-1996). So that means it's possible. You have to start early. I believe you have enormous strengths, fantastic qualities that make me very optimistic about what you can do here. »