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Introduction
Harjinder Singh, the left-footed legendary footballer from Punjab does not need any introduction. The former great forward donned India shirts from 1974 to 1983, playing in two Asian Games, winning the Asian Youth Championship in 1974, and featuring in the Asian All-Stars team. Then he began his second innings as the coach of Chandigarh Football Academy (CFA) and remained there for 22 years, gifting several footballers who represented the country in different age groups.
The Third Innings
Harjinder, in his third innings, is now working as the chief scout of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for the last five months. The former Indian international is happy that all the six footballers he scouted for the national under-17 team have also been acknowledged by the national under-17 chief coach Bibiano Fernandes and all of them are in the team that has been presently training in Spain.
Harjinder Singh said,
“I roamed across the country almost while scouting potential boys for the under-17 national team. The six boys I scouted finally are from different states like Manipur, Kerala, Chandigarh, and Mizoram. I am happy to see that they are performing well with the national under-17 boys.”
The Plans
The 67-year-old footballer revealed now he will be busy scouting under-15 footballers. He said,
“There are more scouts along with me from different states who all are former Indian international footballers. We will start scouting potential under-15 boys for the national team. So far I know, AIFF is going to introduce under-15 tournaments by this year.”
The Prospect
Harjinder sounded optimistic while commenting,
“So far I have seen young footballers across the country, I hope Indian football has a bright chance of getting quality footballers who can bring laurels from the international tournaments in the near future. We need to scout and then nurture them in the right direction.”
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