With the big dream of playing for the national team of India, eighteen-year-old Belgian Triman Ranvir flew to the capital New Dehli last month. The attacker still played in amateur football in Belgium and the Netherlands, but his roots now beckon a special opportunity to work as a professional football player in India. Finding a club doesn’t seem to be a problem, but to represent the country he really needs an Indian passport, and that turns out to be anything but easy due to all the bureaucratic hassle.
By Jordi Tomasowa
After doing the necessary research, Ranvir flew to India with his father in early March to pursue his dream. He only started playing football at the age of twelve, at the lowest amateur level in Belgium. Ranvir slowly but surely climbed up in the following years, via the AFC Tubize where the brothers Eden, Thorgan and Kylian Hazard received their education at KSK Londerzeel. After he became champion and top scorer at the highest amateur level in Belgium, he considered himself ready for the next step. After training and playing in the Netherlands with the SJC academy, he moved to Vleuten, in the municipality of Utrecht, to start working at the VRS academy. “I had heard about the academy through the grapevine and started following them on Instagram. It was interesting for me because they play against professional clubs.”
Ranvir played his matches for FC Hilversum Under 18 until the winter break.
Ranvir often traveled from Vleuten to Hilversum to play his matches at the local FC. “I trained four, five times a week and then a game on the weekend. With the VRS academy I played against Roda JC and VVV-Venlo Under 18. We also went to Spain a few months ago. That was a nice experience. We played against five Spanish teams. I was accurate six times and also gave two assists. You really get to know everyone better. For example, telephone use was not allowed when the team was together.”
After this trip to Spain, Ranvir finally made the purchase to go for his chance in India. “It was always interesting, although a few years ago I hadn’t really done much research. At the time I was playing in the Netherlands at the SJC academy and there I had a lot of contact with an agent Charlie Mena. He taught me a lot and also told me that India could be an option for me. He believes that I can really become a star here. Gwendell van Riemsdijk from the VRS academy later gave me the same advice. That’s why I thought: this might actually turn into something. People with experience give me this advice.”
Ranvir then started to connect with people from India by posting on Twitter with hashtags like ‘Indianfootball’, after which he got many tips to contact Ranjit Bajaj “He owns three clubs in India. Many players from the national team also play for his clubs,” explains Ranvir. “He has been my agent for almost two weeks. Ranjit is the reason I am in India. He invited me and my father in December to see what it’s like here. He indicated that I have the qualities to play for India Under 20, but wanted to see me at work with my own eyes. I was allowed to train with the Minerva Academy for a week in their preparation for the I-League Under 17, which is the highest level in India.”
During this training week, Ranvir made the necessary impression on Ranjit, who saw enough potential in him. Yet there was one major obstacle that the youngster had been aware of for several years: in order to actually have a chance to represent India, he must obtain an Indian passport and renounce his Belgian nationality. “The latter was no problem for me. It’s not that I can never go to Belgium again. I had my education there and also obtained my diploma and driver’s license there. I speak Dutch and French, so I see no reason why I can’t get Belgian nationality again later. That is why I have come to the decision that I want to change my nationality.”
Ranvir in action on behalf of the VRS academy at the Heemskerk Cup.
“I first went to the Indian embassy in Brussels, but they didn’t know what to do with me there. Nobody wants to apply for an Indian passport, usually the reverse is the case.” In Brussels, Ranvir was told that he had better go to India itself to apply for a passport there. Once he arrived in the Asian country, it soon became clear that he was always sent from A to B.
“There is no one who really helps you, that is annoying. I went from the embassy to the District Magistrate – which is a kind of mayor – in Nawanshahr. He sent me to an Indian Passport Office, where I was told that I had to apply for my Indian nationality online through Home Affairs, only that site did not work… Fortunately, my agent Ranji takes good care of me. He arranged accommodation for me. I get food, drinks here and I can train with Delhi FC, which plays in the I-League 2, the third tier of India.”
Ranvir is currently facing the problem that players with dual nationality are not allowed to play for India. “But then let players who want to give up a nationality get a faster process,” he says, slightly annoyed. “In the traditional way, it can really take five to seven years. I have no problem waiting six months, but suppose a Premier League player with Indian roots has to wait that long… Why would he? There are 1.4 billion people in India, but the country has never played a World Cup.”
According to Ranvir, there are hardly any good fields to be found in India. “Only two or three of the forty states take football seriously. You can cross off ninety percent of the 1.4 billion people. How many boys get a good youth education on good fields and watch their food? Then there may only be two hundred football players from which you can make a selection.” Ranvir therefore believes that India’s best players should be active in Europe. “That is only possible if the country is in the top seventy on the FIFA ranking, otherwise they need a visa. I am only the second player to try to get Indian nationality. Arata Izumi preceded me more than ten years ago. He was Japanese, married to an Indian woman and it took five or six years even for him.”
Ranvir in action on behalf of New Dehli FC, a club of his agent Ranjit Bajaj.
Another great example is Sunil Chettri. With his 84 international goals for India, the now 38-year-old striker only has to tolerate Cristiano Ronaldo (122) and Lionel Messi (102). The goalscoring machine signed a three-year contract with Championship club Queens Park Rangers in 2009, but was not given a work permit because India was too low in the FIFA ranking.
“If they can make a good example of me, all the other players with Indian roots can try to represent the country. Then we can get into the top seventy. You can achieve something with four or five such players. If you don’t do that, you have to wait until better fields are realized. To give you an example of the situation: In Afghanistan it is a mess, but that country simply beats India. Afghan players do not play inland, but in Germany, for example, in the third or fourth division.”
With his dream to play for the national team in India as a born Belgian, Ranvir has already attracted a lot of attention in the Asian country. “It is almost impossible to imagine. If you type my name into Google, you’ll see I didn’t turn into anyone. A Wikipedia page has been created about me and a profile on Transfermarkt. The only difference is that I am now in India. Nothing else has changed, I am still the same person.”
Ranvir indicates that he feels he has become ‘some kind of famous’. “People take pictures of me, ask for autographs. Of course I appreciate that. Without all that love I could have thought: I will stay in Europe anyway and maybe leave for India later. But I’ve received so much love that makes me want to give this a shot. There’s no harm in trying. If they don’t want it, no problem. The door in Europe is not closed to me, but I see it as an opportunity to do it for India and for the people.”
However, due to the bureaucratic hassle surrounding his passport application, he can now only wait. “It is beyond my power, the government and the Indian Football Association AIFF must act. We need to see how much they want to invest in the country and how much success they want to achieve with the Indian football team.” According to Ranvir, there are many talented football players in India, but they can hardly develop themselves, partly because the coaching is of a low level. “The trainers have no diplomas, there are no good fields. The players have talent, but can’t do anything with it. India is a great sports country. We are one of the best in hockey, cricket, badminton and weightlifting. Just because India is not good at football, it is not seen as a sport country.”
Ranjit Bajaj, who owns several clubs in India, has recently become Ranvir’s agent.
Ranvir hopes to play his matches soon with a club that is active in the Reliance Development League “That is a private competition organized by the Reliance Group. Five to ten teams play in each state. Three or four teams qualify to go to the next round, at national level, and eventually the four best national teams can go to England to compete in the Next Gen Cup against Premier League clubs.” Kerala Blasters, one of Asia’s biggest clubs in terms of followers, also showed interest in Ranvir at an earlier stage, but a contract was ultimately not in the cards. “I would have liked some certainty, but they only wanted me to come on trial until the end of the season.”
Despite the fact that his passport application is far from smooth, Ranvir is having a good time in India. In the first weeks he mainly had to get used to the temperature and the traffic. “The way they drive here in India is really crazy,” he says with a laugh. “You are obliged to drive on the left here, which is no problem for me. Just don’t really look at the rules, but watch out for other drivers. It’s everyone for themselves on the road. It’s really not normal, you have to see it to believe it.”
“During the day it can be 35 to 40 degrees here. But it’s different warm here than in Belgium or the Netherlands, so you can’t compare. The houses here are heat resistant. If it is cold once, you will feel it immediately. I live in Punjab province and am in Mohali, Chandigarh. It is so diverse here in India. It’s a world within a world. People here speak an abnormal number of languages and there are many different cultures. You can learn so much from each other. You have desert, rainforests, countryside and the Himalayas here. The acclimatization will take a while, but the people here are nice and the attention I get is really great.”