The legendary Pele today offered a solution to bring Indian football out of its current abyss, saying that the game should be made an integral part of growing up for kids here besides ensuring maximum foreign exposure for promising players.
At a media interaction moderated by former Indian cricket captain and ISL side Atletico de Kolkata's co-owner Sourav Ganguly, Pele offered his advice to develop the sport languishing in India.
Without delving into the nitty-gritties, the three-time World Cup winner said, "Most important to grow is to start a base. To get the players who are promising and start working on them.
"The important thing is to send the players abroad for training. Today with the facility of communication, you can send your players abroad. Sometimes, you have young and good players at home but without any international experience. It's important to give exposure to the players."
Ganguly asked about the importance of infrastructure and Pele said, "No doubt about that. It's easy to say that but if you don't give the base in school or club level how they would grow."
Cricket may not be known that well back in his country but Pele seemed quite familiar with Ganguly.
Asked if he is the king of football, as is widely said, who is the 'prince', Pele replied: "In sport, we have a Prince (Ganguly) next to us.
