Indian football has massive potential: Mumbai City FC head coach Petr Kratky

Mumbai City FC head coach Petr Kratky feels Indian football has massive potential. The Blue Tigers have been on the rise in the recent past and the development of ISL has surely benefitted the national team.

Young players are rising through the ranks and have shown tremendous improvement at the top level. Meanwhile, Kratky had replaced former Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham in December 2023 and he will look to get the best out of his players in the rest of the season.

Previously, he worked as an academy coach and assistant coach with the Australian side Melbourne City FC.

“I’m very impressed, to be honest. It’s very, very similar to Australia, and the only difference is some rules when you can’t play all six foreigners. So I have to get my head around it. But in terms of quality, the foreigners and even local Indian players, especially in Mumbai, are very good. They have potential, they have room for improvement, which makes me excited about the work here. We have players in the national team. We have six players with the national team,” he stated in an interview with Firstpost.

“The more you play, the better you get, but with our system and in our way. Indian football has massive potential, and I believe if we do good jobs for years and years in development and help the young players, there will be few Indian players in a period of five or 10 years, knocking on the door in the big competitions, like in Australia. So we just need to do a good job and support the young players,” he added.

Kratky has given chances to players like Valpuia, Ayush Chikkara, Gurkirat Singh, Franklin Nazareth, and Nathan Rodrigues for the Islanders.

The head coach said he wants to work with the young players and give them their deserved opportunities.

“We want to work with young players. We want to give them opportunities. But we have to balance it. Because we need to perform. We need to win as well. We are in a club where we want to win. We want to have trophies. So we have to support young players. We will give them the opportunity,” he expressed.

He further explained: “If they deserve it, they work hard, the opportunity will come. I don’t know when. I can’t promise you will play next week or the week after, but the opportunity will come. If they work hard and have good character and a good attitude, they will get opportunities. And they’re showing it on a daily basis. So I’m not afraid to play young players. I’m not afraid, you know, to change foreigners. If they deserve it, they will play. I’m here to support them, support the youngsters, because my background, it’s in junior development.”

Mumbai City has won six out of the 11 matches in the ongoing ISL and has 22 points under their belt.