The EPL has been slow getting into India. Cricket and now 20/20, its version on crack have upstaged the world's game.
However, when talking about India, even a minuscule 5% represents a market of 50 million. Football is currently the lingua franca of sports of the upper middle class. You have to go to Goal.com to gauge the intense reactions of Indians to transfers news in the EPL. A casual walk on Marine Drive and an evening out at the Bombay Gymkhana reveal a proud display of Man Utd jerseys. My friend in Delhi regularly DVRs the Arsenal matches which come on late evening. His son follows the EPL avidly.
The news that Liverpool despite its cash crunch is behind the opening of a football academy in Pune is welcome news. There have been rumours that Tom Hicks was trying to get into the lucrative Indian market which was largely built around 20/20 cricket. It was at the height of the "Hicks get out of Liverpool" paranoia that engulfed the club's supporters.
EPL is quite big in India. It is catching up fast with youngsters in India. With cricket becoming a "grand father and fathers" game, the fad is football and the news id CR7's transfer to Real Madrid.
Academies and coaching camps are sprouting in different parts of India. AFC is implementing its Vision India prog in schools, which have been successfully implemented in some states.
Arsenal,Everton and Man U are already here doing talent hunts, it is kinda cheap stunt but then again they are here. Chelsea is helping out AFC in the technical side of Vision India and so on.