Punjab FC’s Indian Super League 2024-25 opener against Kerala Blasters – the team with the biggest fan base in the league – in a packed Nehru Stadium on Sunday could appear to be a nervous encounter.
Despite playing its home games in New Delhi, Punjab’s new head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis found an answer for the nervy opener, from his own playing days.
“I was trying to address this question when I was a young football player, playing professional, you have to put your body and mind on the four lines of the field and forget what’s going on outside of this,” said the Greek here on Saturday.
“We have worked a lot with my players in this mindset, to try to prepare them for such situations. I think it would be a good test tomorrow to see how we adopt this plan,” he said.
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Incidentally, Punjab, which made its ISL debut last season after winning the I-League and making the cut, does not have any player from Punjab in its team.
“I think we don’t have any...that’s the one target we have, we want to create youth players from the region, from Punjab, players with the right mentality, to be professional and be ready to address the challenges of the ISL,” said Dilmperis.
It could be tough for the young side to attract its fans from home when it plays in Delhi and the coach is not sure when his team will get to play its ISL games in Punjab. But he is clear what the club wants to do.
“Punjab FC wants to develop, that doesn’t mean only results. The new challenge is how we can bring more youth players from Punjab to our academy, bring new technology to help the staff and players, bring new players, and bring new mentality. I think these are some of the major challenges that we have to address,” he said.
“If we are an example for other teams and other teams, that have better things, are an example for us and that is the only way we can develop Indian football and Indian players,” he concluded.
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