Vikash Dhorasoo: Hope many more players of Indian origin come through in football

File image: Former french footballer Vikash Dhorasoo during his visit to New Delhi in 2021. | Photo Credit: PTI

When Vikash Dhorasoo played for the French national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, there were very few people who believed that an Indian could excel on football’s world stage. Ever since Dhorasoo made his debut for Les Bleus, the belief has grown that Indian footballers can do well at the world level.

“It is a shame that we don’t find any Indian players at that level today. I don’t have any doubts that gems do exist within Indian football,” the former AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder, who is currently in the city at the invitation of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), told Sportstar.

Dhorasoo, who recently acquired a UEFA Pro Licence in coaching, says that he would love to coach Indian players or an Indian club if the opportunity was right. He will be meeting AIFF officials later in the week to discuss a possible involvement with Indian football.

“I will always be ready to come and help find a way to create new methods, especially because there are a lot of things to do and invent for Indian football.”

The famed Les Bleus midfielder said that it would be great if the Indian government opened the doors to OCI/PIO by agreeing to dual citizenship, at least for sportspersons, and allowed the Indian diaspora to contribute to the development of sports.

Ahead of the Indian men’s team’s meeting with the giant of world football, Brazil, in a FIFA friendly here on Saturday, Dhorasoo pointed out that France played Brazil in a friendly in June 1997 and gained an insight into the game before winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup by beating the same opponent in the final.

“When you go to Brazil, it is football that comes to you. After that friendly, France again played against Brazil, this time in the final. You could tell that they had learned a lot and considered themselves differently than they had before.”

Q: What brings you to India?

A: I was honoured to be invited by the Indian Federation for this great and symbolic game for Indian football. It is an opportunity for me, first, to cheer for India and to keep following the evolution of the game and Indian football from the front row.

It was also a way for me to contact my former AC Milan coach, Carlo Ancelotti, who is now coaching Brazil. It was amazing to reconnect with him.

You recently acquired the UEFA Pro coaching licence; what does that mean for your coaching career?

I just graduated as a professional coach with a UEFA licence, so it means a lot to me to be there in that way. Most importantly, it is always something special to come back to my ancestors’ land. My great-grandfather was from India, and India has always been part of my culture and my DNA.

Would you like any offer to be involved in coaching India?

Maybe one day, and bring the national team to the World Cup. It is a dream for everybody, for me and for all Indian people. But for the moment, I am at the beginning of my story with coaching. Maybe I will start in France. I hope to work with a big team, at a high level, because I want to be a coach at the highest level.

I am in the market now, so I have to wait. I have to continue learning about football, watch a lot of matches and be ready to take on a big post with a big team.

There is a very good possibility [of coaching in India]. It is a big opportunity, and maybe it will be soon, very soon. It is one of my goals also to become a coach in India. It would be a great pleasure, and I have a lot of things to give to Indian football.

Did AIFF invite you or did you communicate an interest to come to India?

They knew that I wanted to come to see this match, and when they knew that, they contacted me to organise everything, including my flight to India. It was a mix of everything - my desire to come and their desire to make this project a reality.

I am following Indian players and players of Indian origin, and I hope there will be many more who come through. Every time I hear about a player of Indian origin, or see a name that looks like an Indian name, it intrigues me.

Do you follow Indian footballers?

Obviously I do. India is very far away, but I come to India regularly. I am interested in Indian football, and I try to become more and more interested because I know that Indian football has to develop and will develop in the next few years. I follow the Indian team, like Ryan Williams, who scored against Panama. Then there is Apuia (Lalengmawua Ralte); I love his skill. He is a technical player, like I was, so I like watching him.

I know that for this match against Brazil, the coach has selected young players to bring a bit of novelty and refresh the team. I am glad that the coach has made a list of young players who could bring new energy and start writing a new page for Indian football, especially after the good result the Under-17 team had against Spanish teams [in 2023] and the fact that the Under-20 team qualified for the Asian Cup.

If a lot of players around the world can play for India, it could be very good for the level of Indian football, and maybe it could also help the other players from India to increase their level.

How do you see the OCI scenario? Do you think the Indian government should allow dual citizenship especially to sportspersons?

I am not in a position to give the Indian government or Indians any indication of what to do with policy. My understanding is that it would be an interesting perspective to think about finding a way to allow athletes from the Indian diaspora to bring their talent to the national team.

Football is a global game. Everyone knows it. The perspective of having India performing at the World Cup would be something huge, both for football and for India and the Indian diaspora.

Either way, I hope India will find a way to get there and increase the level of the team, because it will be huge for everyone.

I want to insist on the fact that it is not only about bi-national players bringing their talent to the team. It is also, and mainly, about structural work in Indian football. It must be focused on youth categories, on having young boys and girls reach that level and giving Indian football the opportunity to progress in a structural way.

The football culture in India is big, especially around Kolkata (Bengal) and Kerala, so it is not as if we are starting from a blank page. I think we really need to work with the youth - the young footballers - to raise the level, have more matches, face big teams and learn.

The match against Brazil will be a good opportunity to evaluate and see what we can do to get to that level. But I am sure that in the next 10, 15 or 20 years, India will produce great talents.

Indian footballers do not play in the big leagues around the world. Is it the reason why Indian football is not succeeding internationally?

It is a shame that we don’t find any Indian players at that level today, because I have no doubt that gems exist within Indian football. It is always a matter of time, of course, a matter of working, and a matter of having young players playing important games. But to me, there is no doubt that in the coming years we will find great players here.

If we look at the dynamics right now, whether it is the youth categories or even the ownership of European clubs, there are perspectives for Indian football. In France, we have the National Technical Directorate of French Football, which thinks a lot about how to train coaches and how to pass that on to the younger generation.

It is obviously not about taking our project and bringing it to India. It is about how we can bring skills and create exchanges so that everyone can progress together.

In any case, it takes resources, methods and time, but there are lots of things to do and invent. And, of course, I am also at the service of India if there is a need to help in many ways.

If I am allowed to make a comparison with France in terms of methods, in France, football has a National Technical Directorate that is designed to train coaches and provide a structural direction for youth football.

My point is not to take the French model and bring it to India. My point is to create bridges between methods and the talent pool and try to find a way to do better together.

Of course, I will always be ready to come and help find a way to create new methods, especially because there are a lot of things to do and invent for Indian football.

But again, I have no doubt that we will find gems here.

If you take the example of French football, 20 years ago it was about finding players who would physically dominate the game. It didn’t work well, and they changed direction.

That is a way for me to say that you can choose the football you want to create, but it takes time.

For me, it is a good initiative. It can be a starting point for something. It puts football in the spotlight. We bring Brazil; that is not nothing.

I hope the stadium will be full. I hope people will watch the match, be interested in it and want to pass that interest on to their children, so that their children want to go and play football.

That is how we are going to develop football, by putting the spotlight on this match and communicating as much as possible, so that everyone wants to watch it.

I hope that the Indian national team playing against Brazil, for example, can have an impact on grassroots football and help people encourage their children to keep believing in their potential.

I think that is good, and they must keep going in that direction because it is a good celebration and, somehow, it is also a way to evaluate ourselves.

I hope that the players who play against Brazil will have a great experience. It will be a difficult match, but they will learn a lot from it.

It will be a huge moment, and for everyone who is on the pitch, it will also be an incredible learning experience. They will learn a lot in 90 minutes playing against Brazil.

I played with a lot of Brazilian players, great Brazilian players. Also, Carlo Ancelotti was my coach at AC Milan, so it will be a good moment.

In France, 20 years ago, maybe more, France played against Brazil in a friendly match. It was a great moment for everybody. We were a big team in France, but playing against Brazil is always very special.

When you go to Brazil, it is football that comes to you. A year later, France played against Brazil, this time in the final. You could tell that they had learned a lot and considered themselves differently than they had before.

That is a great thing. The inspiration that the French team got from playing Brazil paid off in the final.