India is reportedly set to follow China's football revolution as the country launches a sports program called "Mission 11 Million," which aims to train and engage more than 11 million local children in soccer-related activities starting this October.

According to NDTV Sports, the India national football team, currently ranked 163rd in the world by FIFA, has been criticized by the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said that the team has dropped to the "lowest of rungs" due to decades of neglect.

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"Unfortunately, over the decades we have slipped to the lowest rungs," said Modi said during his weekly radio address. "Today our ranking in FIFA is so low that I feel reluctant to even to mention it."

The Indian Prime Minister's remarks allegedly triggered the All India Football Federation (AIFF), India's governing body of association football, to initiate the abovementioned program. The agency intends to kick start the program in October in around 30 major locations all over the country.

Aside from the "Mission 11 Million" program, which is mainly targeting young, local, and grassroots players, the organization will also launch a global scouting scheme to try to find overseas football talents who have India ancestry.

"The idea is to increase the talent pool (for the national squad)," said former national team captain Abhishek Yadav, who will lead the scouting program. "We can't guarantee that we can unearth 20 players overnight. It's an attempt, which we believe might work. There's no harm in trying."

Meanwhile, Indian soccer journalist Jaydeep Basu has noted that the FIFA-backed "Mission 11 Million" is a noble initiative, but he questioned its feasibility because of the lack of football coaches in the country.

"'Mission 11 Million' has a nice ring to it but with only 3,000-odd certified coaches around, who'll teach these kids to play soccer?" the reporter said.

Other than the lack of certified mentors, India also lacks football infrastructure, something that China's has heavily invested in.

India is set to host the U-17 FIFA World Cup tournament in October 2017, and its success could depend on the effective implementation of the "Mission 11 Million" program this year, Livemint reported.

TagsChina Football, China Football News, India, china, Football, fifa