Need to build an identity for Odisha, get youth teams to play same style of football: Raj Athwal

Panaji: Raj Athwal never expected anything easy in India.
With over 25 years of experience in British football, having held senior roles at Coventry and Watford in England, and Rangers in Scotland, Athwal’s move to India as president of Odisha FC took many by surprise. But in the two and half years that he has now spent here, things have started to fall in place.
From bottom of the pool in 2020-21, Odisha qualified for the playoffs this season, won a trophy– Super Cup – and qualified for the AFC Cup, Asian football’s second-tier club competition after the AFC Champions League.
“India has been the most difficult challenge of my football career,” said Athwal, whose parents migrated from India to UK in the sixties. “I have had to acclimatise to the culture. The set up of professionalism in England is different. Professionalism of this nature (in Indian football) has only been since 2014, and it’s evolving. This is not criticism, but observation. Each season, we are improving, making huge inroads.”
For Odisha, and Athwal, it’s not just about making it to the playoffs or winning trophies. The plans extend far beyond the field.
“We are out to help people, maybe a small percentage. It’s a massive opportunity, especially with girls, to try and use sport to bring them out of difficult circumstances. We’ve used football as a tool to help and improve lifestyles. It’s huge in England.
“Here, we’ve gone to colleges, universities and colonies where men and women in their seventies know nothing about football. We can give them (health) advice and they are grateful. That’s our way of giving back and the owners have absolutely backed us,” said Athwal.
Among other goals that Athwal has set for Odisha is to make the club sustainable. With each passing season, Indian football clubs, particularly in the top-tier Indian Super League (ISL), have had to devise new ways to reduce losses.
“We want Odisha to be a sustainable club, both on and off the pitch,” said Athwal. “On the pitch, I want Odisha to compete for all trophies, but we also need to have a youth programme for under-7s and under-8s; 13 is too late. The plan is to follow the same style of football the team is playing. You need to have an identity, otherwise you end up bringing managers with different philosophies. It disrupts the whole methodology.”
Odisha have an understanding with the government of Odisha, who support the club with state-of-art infrastructure. Next season, the club will have a residential academy for under-13, under-15 and under-17 teams, all comprising Odia players.
The reserves too will have a majority of the players from Odisha, while provision is being made for the under-10s to train as well.
“Those at the academy will be educated. The truth is only one percent will make as professionals, but what we are giving them is education and a chance to make a start in another part of life, if they don’t become professional footballers.
“We want to have the whole grassroots system, academy, youth team, reserves being set up professionally which will then bring players through in the next five to six years,” said Athwal.