India witnessed the magic of Argentina`s legendary footballer Lionel Messi during his “GOAT India Tour”, for which crore of money was spent.
Several fans enjoyed the event across four cities, where they got an opportunity to get a glimpse of the football icon.
Following the conclusion of the event, Indian footballer Sandesh Jhingan has expressed concerns over the future of the sport in the country. Currently, the domestic football tournaments, such as the Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League, are struggling to find a sponsor for their resumption.
Expressing his thoughts on the tour, the footballer shared a post on his official social media handle in which he stated that India loves football, but not enough to extend support to our own players.
“Now that the euphoria of the past few days of the entire country suddenly embracing football has settled somewhat, I felt compelled to share my thoughts. First and foremost, it genuinely made me happy to see that our country does love football, that it can fill stadiums to full capacity and that people are willing to spend lakhs to witness the sport,” his post read.
“What troubles me, however, and leaves me deeply reflective, is that at a time when our own football ecosystem is in jeopardy, arguably facing one of its most difficult phases, we stand on the brink of having no active domestic football ahead of us. It feels as though we are close to shutting everything down because there is no willingness to invest in football within India, yet crores were spent on this tour,” it added.
“What this tells me is that we do love the sport, but perhaps not enough to support our own players,” wrote the 32-year-old footballer.
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Earlier, India`s stressed football players had issued a joint statement with the administrators to start the currently paused ISL, by saying that their anger and frustration had turned into desperation.
The plea came after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said it did not receive any bids for the commercial rights for the ISL. Earlier, the board had also put out the Request for Proposal (RFP), inviting bids for a 15-year contract.
(With ANI Inputs)
