Accompanying Brazilian President Lula to India next month would be a six-member national football delegation of that country to India for betterment of Indian soccer. Not unusual going by the fact that Indian soccer is invaded by foreign players. The failure to create its own pool of talent is forcing India’s football think-tank to peep outside its geographical borders, often in search of the players of Indian origin, who can salvage its pristine pride. TWF correspondent Kushal Chakraborty traces the history of foreign invasion in soccer.

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Jose Barreto, Edmilson, Roberto Mendes Silva, Yusif Yakubu, Ranti Martins – this not a roll-call for an all-star world soccer team. These are some of the foreign players who are dominating the Indian football club rosters. In the Indian soccer scenario induction of good foreigners is vital to the success of a club. The craving for a foreign recruit has reached such a pass that the Indian football officials are now seriously thinking of giving Indian citizenship to some good foreign footballers. Japan is lending the cue with the success of Brazil-born Alex in its ranks.

The failure to create its own pool of talent is forcing the country's football think-tank to peep outside its geographical borders in search of the players of Indian origin who can salvage its pristine pride. With the country's present world ranking in soccer plummeting to 157, the mandarins of the sports are taking recourse to a relatively new legislation laid out by the sport's world governing body – FIFA. It is about the dual nationality of a player. In the Indian context the law would broadly read like this -- A player playing outside India but of Indian origin would be eligible to play for the country if he has not represented the country where is presently residing. Now with lot of the second or third generation Indian expatriates making their presence felt in different soccer leagues in Europe, the football administration is seeing its deliverance in the new generation of NRIs.

Unlike cricket, which has remained largely insular to foreign importation in terms of players, football in the country has a long history of foreign dependence. Prior to the independence several neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Burma (now Myanmar), Sinhala (now Sri Lanka) contributed players to different Indian clubs. This trend continued even after the independence with players like Pagsali of Burma, Masud Fakri of Pakistan becoming big names playing for reputed clubs in Kolkata.

The need to excel in a highly competitive format spurred the Kolkata clubs to look outside the country for better talents. In this effort to outscore each other, two clubs – especially East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting – played the pioneering role. Mohun Bagan, being more conservative in principle, kept itself away from this process of hiring foreign players initially. Both East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting were regularly reaching outside the geographical boundaries to recruit players from of different countries. Still, the clubs had some self-imposed prohibitions. For example, East Bengal club did not recruit Anglo-Indian players till 1942. East Bengal broke this embargo with Fred Pagsali, an Anglo-Indian refugee from Myanmar. The player went on to occupy a prominent spot in the pantheon of the club's all-time stars with his exceptional skills as a striker.

The year 1979 stands out as a watershed as refers the recruitment of foreign players. Whereas Mohon Bagan failed to recruit a Nepalese National Mohon Chhetri owing mainly to protests from many of the club hardliners, East Bengal recruited Nigerian striker David Williams. The player had come to Tamil Nadu University to study and he became a big hit in the Calcutta league after being drafted in by East Bengal. It was with Williams' one outstanding season with East Bengal that the clubs in Calcutta began to realise the importance of foreign recruits. In 1980 after Williams had moved over to Mohammedan Sporting, East Bengal brought in two Iranian footballers from Aligarh Muslim University – Majid Bakshar and Jamshed Nasiri. These two added greater substance to the foreigner theory with their superlative ball-playing skills and unparalleled scoring abilities. Majid, an Iranian world cupper, eventually became the greatest foreign footballer to have ever played in the country.

In the later years, two other Iranians -- Khabazi and Sanjari --joined Mohammedan Sporting. The two played with great merit to further bolster the clubs' dependence on the foreigners. With the clubs falling in for the foreigners, the 80s effectively started the foreign invasion in football. Continuing with the trend, Mohammedan Sporting recruited a player from Hyderabad University in 1985. This started another landmark as the new recruit – responding to name of Chima Okorie – went on to become one of the finest scorers in Indian football playing for a host of clubs in a career spanning more than a decade.

This was time Mohun Bagan was beginning to realise the inefficacy of its stubbornness in not going for imports. It broke the convention finally in 1992 and did so in style bringing in Chima as its first foreign recruit. By this time East Bengal had made it their habit bringing hordes of foreigners every season. East Bengal had introduced another future star in 1986 picking up Emeka Ezuego from Aligarh Muslim University. After a brief stint in Kolkata and Dhaka, Emeka went back to his native country Nigeria and represented his national side in the 1998 World Cup. The stream of foreign invasion continued with the likes of Charles Appu, Chibuzor, Johny, Santos – who was perhaps the first Bazilian player to play in the country – joining East Bengal.

The cue was taken over by even smaller clubs, like George Telegraph, Port Trust, picking up foreigners in their roster. In the later years East Bengal further embellished its illustrious record of foreign recruitment reaching out to England from where they brought in the trio of Peter Maguire, Prindevelly, and Edmonds early in the 90s. Mohun Bagan picked up late but in the last 15 years it has caught up with the race along with other clubs in the country to make it a pan-Indian phenomenon.

Going by the performances of foreign players in Indian soccer, it can be said without any doubt that Africa-born players are more successful than the imports from the other continents. The last decade has seen the biggest proliferation in this phenomenon with the clubs in Goa, Kerala, Mumbai, and Punjab garnishing their squads with plucking from virtually all across the world. The past has seen the likes of Chima, Kenyan Sammy Omello, Ghanaians Sule Musha and Jackson Agygpong, Nigerians Emanuel Opoku, Bernard Oparanzie, Christopher among others. Now with Brazilians turning their attention to India, the clubs rosters have a healthy presence from the land of Samba. Led by Jose Barreto, who can easily be ranked among one of the foreigners to have ever played in the country, there are many other Brazilians who are tugging the fortune of the clubs in the country. The other successful Brazilian in the Indian conditions was Cristiano Junior, who met an untimely end on field in the 2004 Federation Cup final at Bangalore.

The import scene has improved somewhat with the change in the pattern of recruiting foreign players. Earlier most foreigners came either as students or as a tourist, but now the foreign players are recruited through agents. Still, the level of excellence has not improved much as the quality players, especially from Europe or Latin America, are not willing to play in the country.

The final round up on the issue would come best from the former players. According to Aloke Mukherjee, former international and Indian coach, the foreign players are now integral part of Indian soccer. They certainly help in improving the standards by showing the Indian players the grade to perform, he says.

Surajit Sengupta, former Indian captain, says that most of the foreigners who come to play in the country are often of mediocre standards. “The only ones who are very exceptional compared to the Indian players can only make their mark. This is paradoxical situation where the talented foreigners often prefer good professional leagues in Europe and Asia (like in Japan and Korea), leaving only the ones without any option search the route to India,” he says.

Tarun De, another international footballer, says the Indian clubs hardly make a quality check on the foreigners. To recruit a foreign player club officials need to be more professional in their approach.