We hear a lot about the failures of the English football academy system. There have been numerous articles about how a large number of players who have spent years in the academies do not find a place in professional football.
Australia is at risk of the same problems now that we have moved to an A-League academy structure. But on the positive side for the English system, there are some good young players in their academies.
In South Korea earlier this year, England won their first FIFA U-20 World Cup title after beating Venezuela 1–0 in the final. They then repeated their success in the U-17 World Cup with a 5-2 win over Spain in the final.
Watching the the Brazil versus England semi-final last Wednesday night, the standard of play was impressive as England won 3-1.
What has also been impressive is how India is embracing football.
“It’s been a fantastic tournament until now, with an overwhelming response of everybody involved. First and foremost, the fans have filled the stadiums in all the matches, showing fair play and respect, cheering on all the teams, and really loving the football they have seen,” head of FIFA tournaments Jaime Yarza said.
“The figures speak for themselves: more than 1.2 million fans attended games at the stadiums. By the final matchday, we’re probably going to break the [attendance] record of all the other U-17 World Cups and we might even break the record for the U-20 World Cup, which is an amazing achievement.
“It really shows that India is a footballing nation in every sense. The hard work put in place during so many years has received a great response from everybody. It has been a very proud moment for all of us.”
Praful Patel, chairman of the India 2017 LOC and president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), also spoke of India’s ambitions for football.
“I am extremely delighted, happy and satisfied that our dream project to bring the first-ever World Cup to India, the first-ever FIFA tournament to India, has been an astounding success in terms of organisation, infrastructure, and the conduct of the games,” Patel said.
“It shows that India has arrived on the world football scene and we are able to host the finest tournaments. If we can host the FIFA U-17 World Cup, I’m sure India is ready for any of the big games in the future.”
“We have invested heavily in our grassroots development projects, and the principle reason why we hosted this edition of the World Cup was to continue to keep our focus on the grassroots development and attract younger kids of all age groups to the game.
“The younger we catch them, the better for the game in the future. This tournament especially has been absolutely fantastic in attracting the youngsters to the stadiums.”
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