Former French star Bixente Lizarazu: India needs football structure

Representation picPointing out that Indian football is hampered by the lack of a proper structure former French star Bixente Lizarazu insists that every small town in the country should have a comprehensive system including local clubs to produce players The former leftback who was a member of the French squad that won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 Euro Cup also said countries like Brazil have produced successful footballers who started playing in the streetsYou need structure everywhere in India structure of club may be at school so may be you can play football in school Lizarazu who was in the country as the brand ambassador of Bayern Munich Youth Cup 2018 told IANS in an interview You have to organise classes have a club everywhere in every town even in little towns or a lot of clubs if the town is big that is the way to have better football players If you look at South America Brazil in particular they are playing on the streets they dont have incredible talent they learn football on the streets the 48yearold addedLizarazu who has won the Champions League for German football giants Bayern Munich criticised the present system which has the ILeague and Indian Super League ISL running simultaneously Instead he insisted India should emphasise on having only one professional league but with more clubs From my point of view it is better to have just one league powerful with 10 teams or 12 or 15 I dont know what is the potential of India regarding that the sixtime Bundesliga winner saidLike in France and Germany they have one top league not two top leagues Spain has one top league And why I say that the league is big because all the teams will see the matches and they will want to be like the players If they dont see good teams good players with lots of fans I dont think they will be interested So the league must be attractive for young Indian boys and girls So it is important that the top level is very well organised Lizarazu addedLizarazu said India had done the right thing by hosting the U17 World Cup as it will motivate the youth to take up the game It is good because to organise football in India costs a lot not every country is able to do that Its good to start with youth teams he said You can have fantastic matches and players it can also give the kids in India motivation to play football he added Lizarazu also felt that the current French footaball team lacks experience but still has the calibre to reach the semifinals at the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018The weakness for France is inexperience I expect France can be in the top four Lizarazu said He also said rising Paris SaintGermain star Kylian Mbappeacute is the best player in the present French squad I like him he is quick good dribbling he is quite good in front of the goal we have a lot players like that Kylian Mbappe is the best one we have and we also have Ousmane Dembele and Kingsley Coman he opined Talking about French football great and his former teammate Zinedine Zidane Lizarazu said He was very calm and relaxed was under control and it was incredible because he was scoring everywhere He was an amazing player shy but loved to do the talking on the fieldCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go