Finally it's happening...

For a long time many football experts and fans criticised the All-India Football Federation for their ignorance or negative attitude towards including Indians from abroad (NRI's) / Players of Indian Origins (PIO's) into the national team set-up. But it's time to enter a new chapter in Indian football...

So who is the first PIO to be at an India camp ahead of an official asignment? It wasn't Harpal Singh nor Ebbie Kodiat nor Amrit Sidhu. No! It was Simran Singh from Denmark!
Earlier during the England summer Tour 2001 Ebbie Kodiat and Navin Saroya had a training session with the Indian team but nothing further developed out of this.

Meanwhile Simran Singh had been called-up to the final training camp of the India U18 national team in Goa, ahead of the U18 team playing in the prestigious Milk Cup in Northern Ireland and the Ian Rush Trophy in Wales in July 2003. Simran had to leave the camp early due to illness and other reasons.
Simran, a 16-year old Delhi-born teenager who plays currently for Danish club AB Copenhagen, is one of the promising young PIO footballers listed in the indianfootball.com PIO section, many experts were calling for. Simran has been the highest goalscorer in Denmark's junior professional league in the 2002/03 season with 21 goals to his credit.

The young Indian footballer from the country of the red and white Danish dynamite team was able to get the attention of the AIFF during the "International Indian Football Series 2002" tournament in Remscheid, Germany in August 2002. Simran played for the IFSC-Germany U17 selection and left a good impression with the then India U17 national coach Islam Akhmedov, whose team (the current India U18 team) was also one of the competitors.

Expressing his emotions and feelings to indianfootball.com ahead of the trip down to India, Simran said: "It is great to be chosen for the Indian U-18 team camp. Words can't express how happy I feel. I look forward to the training camp in Goa and will try to prove that I am capable of playing in the Indian U-18 team. Playing with them will be a honour and pleasure for me".

Many Indian football fans are wondering - how did this call-up happen? For a long time Indians waited for the inclusion of PIO footballers but only under national coach Stephen Constantine things seem to change. Simran on this issue: "While I played for the IFSC-Germany U17 the former Indian juniors coach Mr Akmedov saw me play and asked me to contact him later on. After a couple of months I came to know that he was no longer the coach and Mr Stephen Constantine had taken his place. Abhishek Gujral (an indianfootball.com editor), who is a researcher for Championship Manager 4, told me to contact Mr Constantine. So I send him all my details. Mr Constantine spoke with my club-coach in Denmark, and as I was the top scorer in my club he gave me an opportunity."

Furthermore Simran gave credit to the IFSC-Germany U17 coaches and indianfootball.com chief editors Arunava Chaudhuri and Chris P.Daniel, "who invited me to play in the IIFS 2002 in Germany, which helped me to get into the focus of the AIFF."

Finally Simran wasn't included in the U18 squad but meanwhile the India U18 youngsters left a lasting impression at the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland, at one of Europe's most competitive junior tournaments. The biggest win on paper being a 2-1 against Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kiev. This strong performance by our juniors also showed that getting into the India national team is no catwalk for PIO footballers, as footballers from India are also pros but what they lack is the daily training and teaching in a professional surrounding. But this is at least changing in the national team set-up under our English coach Stephen Constantine...
So no PIO footballer should take it for granted, if chosen for an India camp that he will be directly taken into the final squad. The player, whoever he is, will have to prove his quality and class, and also become a part of the team, as something which is strong in Indian national sides - the team spirit!

This inclusion in the training camp is a wake-up call to other Indians around the world. Simran could have played also for the Denmark U18 national team, but he is "an Indian by birth and by heart so I would rather play for India then Denmark. I am very proud to be an Indian."
So Simran will continue to work hard towards making his debut for India in coming international asignments.

Finally it's happening...