Mumbai: Indian football faces the challenge of putting the right infrastructure in place if it is to excel in the sport, feels Manchester United chief executive officer David Gill.
"The challenge in India is to do things - to get the right infrastructure in place, to build it from the bottom to get the youngsters playing, get the right coaches in place - you need to get everything.
"You just can't have just one good coach without players willing to play, you can't have good players without coaches, you can't have infrastructure without coaches. It sounds simple but it is not," Gill told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of the Manchester United Soccer School here.
The Western India Football Association has partnered Manchester United to set up the football academy, the English Premier League club's first in India, where kids between 8-17 years would be coached much like the way the Red Devils train.
The soccer school has produced superstars like David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Danny Welbeck in the past.
Asked about the investment for the academy, he said, "I don't have an answer for that because we don't put numbers on it. These pitches don't come cheap, the stands don't come cheap.
"We make sure that through some of our programmes some of the players get scholarships to give the youngsters a chance.
We set the goals but you have got to set realistic goals so that you can get the money, get the return and get the following and it all comes together.
"The goal should be to get Indian football sorted and getting the Indian team up. In time you should see India in top of the world game... that's our goal. It's a very exciting venture and we are looking forward to it," he added.
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