FC Goa coach and Brazil great Zico committed to helping ‘develop football’ across the world

Development is the Brazilian’s focus as Fifa presidential candidate and FC Goa coach in Indian Super League, writes Ali Khaled.

Zico took over as coach of FC Goa in the inaugural India Super League season. Sajjad Hussain / AFP

Brazilian great Zico has been making news with his interest in running for the Fifa presidency, but on Sunday his attention will be fully focused on FC Goa’s first match of the 2015/16 Indian Super League (ISL).

“It was a nice experience last year with Goa, and now again because we have a new team and new players for the next season,” said Zico, who took over as coach at the start of the league’s inaugural season.

Zico has often spoken of the democratisation of the game in developing football countries, regardless of what happens with his bid for Fifa presidency.

“I can develop football across the whole world,” he said at Dubai Sports City’s training ground recently.

“Not just to receive votes. We need to help develop the football because they need this. You only see Fifa work when there is a World Cup. Between the four years, nothing.”

Last season, India football fans flocked to a new league bolstered by star names from Europe and South America. The average attendance was 24,357.

Still, few of the eight ISL clubs are expected to make any financial gains for a few years yet.

It is too early to forecast the success or failure of the ISL, but Zico believes that Indian football would benefit if the new league and the 11-team professional Hero I-League — established in 2007 — worked together.

“If both leagues come together to make one league and if India players can develop better, there will be better football in the country,” Zico said.

Football standards in cricket-mad India are behind those of many Asian countries. Their world ranking of 155 leaves them behind tiny polities such as Hong Kong, Lebanon and Guam.

But Zico has seen improvement in his team, at least. “What I saw in training, the team is much better than last year,” he said. “This year, I get to choose the players. I hope that we can be better than last year, and that we win the cup.”

The two-week training camp in Dubai was ideal for Zico with the outside heat acting as another challenge in his programme to get players into shape.

While in Dubai, Zico was able to run the rule over his new squad, which include Brazilian World Cup winner Lucio as its designated “marquee” player. “Players like Lucio and others who come to the team now, they can help the Indian players to grow because they are professional,” he said. “They can see the way they play.”

Zico hopes Lucio’s experience will improve a team that finished second in the table, but lost in the play-offs against eventual champions Atletico De Kolkata.

“It’s a new challenge for me,” said Lucio, who captained Brazil at the 2010 World Cup. “I was selected by Zico because he thinks I can help the group. I hope I can be good for the players and the club.”

Zico appreciates that local fans — Goa is the only Indian state where football is the official sport — have taken the team to their hearts, and he hopes the club’s profile continues to rise.

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