Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli not only loves cricket, he also loves the other sports specially football. Kohli is a co-owner of the ISL team FC Goa and follows football regularly. Recently, Kohli reveals his ultimate life goal which is to make India as a sports culture nation.
In a recent interview with TOI, Virat Kohli revealed, “My ultimate aim in life, in general, is to have a sporting culture in India where people know each and every sport inside out; to be able to follow all sports equally. I am certainly excited about the fact that we are at a juncture where we have a chance to create that in the next 10-15 years and we foresee Goa as the hub where footballers feel, ‘if I want to become a high-class footballer in India, I need to go there and train’.”
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When Kohli was asked about the reason for his investment in Indian football, he replied, “It’s passion. Unless I connect to a certain thing, I can never be a part. Even when signing brands, I have started following this (principle) very closely. I need to be there from inside whatever I am doing. I have always followed football. Even now we (cricketers) get so excited playing football, because the sport is so easy to get a hang of. You can understand the rules. Obviously at the elite level, it’s different but it’s something that excites children very quickly. It’s about having a ball in front of you, trying to do something with it.”
Talking about the Indian football, Kohli said, “I see football developing in India in a massive way. The kind of awareness that ISL has created, everyone around the world talks about it. It’s been a wonderful change to Indian sport and I totally want to endorse that.”
Kohli also revealed that he missed the sporting culture during growing up. He told, “One thing that I have missed growing up with is sporting culture. When you come to football games, you can see the sporting culture. Because people who follow football understand the sport. This is not about hitting the ball anywhere and running behind it. There is certain intelligence attached to football and those who understand football know exactly what’s going on.”
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When Kohli was asked the reason for not gaining success in Indian football, Kohli answered, “It’s lack of leagues like this at a major level. There is nothing like globalising the sport. With the kind of visibility on television and the kind of access that people have, it’s creating awareness. People know Indian players. People even watched all those who played at the Under-17 World Cup. It’s all about visibility. Unless you get to show your talent, on television screens, it’s very difficult for people to start liking something.”
