The 76th Santosh Trophy Football Championship has reached the semi-final stage. Karnataka, Punjab, Meghalaya and Services teams have qualified for the semi-finals. But these matches are not held in India. Santosh Trophy Football: Why Santosh Trophy Football playing in Saudi Arabia?
It will be held for the first time in the Gulf nation. The match will be held at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But it is natural that the question arises as to how suitable it is to hold the matches in Saudi Arabia, as these matches are being held in the Gulf nation as per the agreement made by the All India Football Association with the South Asian Football Federation.
It is said that this decision has been taken with the intention of giving the Indian football players the experience of playing abroad. Some former players and coaches echoed this sentiment. In a way, this is acceptable, but there is also the irony of playing one of India’s prestigious tournaments on foreign soil. Our country’s ground tournament is eagerly watched by the football fans of our country.
Will the crowd there come to see the semi-final between Karnataka, Punjab, Meghalaya and Services in Riyadh followed by the third place match and the final? Are there any star players in these teams? Are the Saudis excited to see those players? Do players get excited about matches that people don’t see? All such questions are natural.
For example, the semi-final match played by the Karnataka team will be hosted in Bengaluru, so at least Bengaluru football fans will flock to watch the home matches. Football fans flocking to watch Bengaluru FC matches in the Indian Super League can be remembered here. Our players can also be motivated to play well in front of the home crowd.
If Meghalaya, who have reached the semi-finals for the first time in the Santosh Trophy Football Championship, were to play the match in Shillong, it would have been a disadvantage for the spectators there to encourage their team. But it is not known if there is any benefit from conducting it in Riyadh.
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AIFF has something else to do:
All India Football Federation (AIFF), which has decided to hold the important matches of the country’s prestigious football tournament on foreign soil, this agreement will bring cost burden to the organization and will not be useful in any other way. The same money could have been used for some other development work.
This seems to have led to a trip by the officials of the football organization. If the AIFF is keen to give the young players of our country experience in foreign soil, it could have selected some players from different states and given them the opportunity to train or play in the best academies of Europe.
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