Although India’s national football team is languishing at 153 in FIFA world rankings, Manchester United sees in it a huge potential market for football. Talking with media persons on in South Africa, David Gill (CEO) said gaining a commercial foothold in India was a priority as they seek to retain their position as the richest club in England.

 

David Gill went farther and said that the club would be making a concerted effort to capitalize on the popularity of the Premier League on the Indian subcontinent, and as a first step United is likely to play a friendly match in India next summer. He admitted that the interest in football around the world is increasing and is not yet saturated.

 

Gill further added that United has worked on the global position for many years but it would be wrong to think it is impregnable. He concluded that if it is so it would get knocked off its perch. Talking about India plan he said India is interesting and United has been approached to go there and it is looking at some soccer school opportunities there.

 

Gill sees India an ambitious country looking for a berth in world cup. He said that for it being a huge country India has lots of potential. India is a part of United’s plan to expand into foreign markets, and so far they have visited Japan, South Korea, China and Saudi Arabia. Now it’s a recognition of India’s economic growth and strength by a big soccer sporting club, it seems.