The match between India and Bayern Munich at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi marks the end of an era in Indian soccer as Baichung Bhutia dons the blue jersey one last time, nearly 17 years after his first match for his country and over 100 internationals later.

Ahead of the clash, Bhutia, 35, said he was proud that he would be facing a team of Bayern's caliber in his final match. He said he wanted to go out on a high and would try to play the full 90 minutes of the match.

The underachieving Indian national team is currently in a transitional phase. The generation of Bhutia, Renedy Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Deepak Mondal, and Climax Lawrence had one last hurrah at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup Qatar in January. The Indians failed to win a game at that tournament, but it was the first time in 27 years that the country had qualified for Asia's showpiece football event. In the wake of the tournament, a new generation of players has come into the fold with the aim of pushing Indian football to new heights in international football and beyond its lowly ranking of 162 in the world.

The up-and-coming stars of team India are striker Sunil Chhetri, goalkeeper Subrata Pal, defender Gouramangi Singh and utility player Syed Rahim Nabi, with 21-year-old Jeje Lalpekhlua considered the brightest young prodigy. But with Chhetri and Subrata seemingly under constant injury clouds, much will depend on team work and unity in Bhutia's final game.

Long history, short honor roll

Indian football has a long history and tradition, but the national team has never qualified for a FIFA World Cup. The Blue Tigers were invited to play at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil but declined because of laws introduced by world football's government body FIFA that year stipulating that players must wear boots on the pitch. They said they would only play barefoot.

Now, Indian football is looking to the future. With the help of FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation, the All India Football Federation is to receive a national academy with four regional centers. However, it is expected to take years before any clear results stem from these academies. For now, the dream of India one day participating in a world cup shall remain just that, a dream.

The team's next mission, however, is to give Baichung Bhutia a fitting farewell by getting over the top of Bayern Munich. This is the fifth Bayern team to visit in the last six years.

The first exhibition game was back in December 2005 when the Bayern second team played and won the IFA Shield in Kolkata. This was followed by goalkeeping legend Oliver Kahn's farewell match in front of 125,000 at Kolkata's Saltlake Stadium in May 2008. The next visit was again by the Bayern seconds in January 2009 to Kolkata and Siliguri before the FCB All Stars came to Kolkata in November 2010. Now the first team is back in India with stars including Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

'What European football is all about'

At the pre-match press conference, Lahm made the point that he was happy to be in India and had seen a little bit of the country on the way from the airport to the team hotel. He said he hoped to interact with Indians to get a feel for the country.

For Schweinsteiger, meanwhile, the match is part of his comeback preparations following a collar bone fracture ahead of the second half of the German Bundesliga, which kicks off January 20.

"We are taking this match seriously. We are here to show what top European club football is all about and hope to entertain the Indian crowds," added Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes.

Proceeds from the game will go to the victims of the 2011 Sikkim earthquake in northeast India.

On the sidelines of the big match there will also be the India finals of the FC Bayern Youth Cup. The preliminary rounds with close to a 1,000 children participating were held in Delhi last October and Mumbai in December with the scouted boys facing each other at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The best of these will be chosen by FCB scouts to represent India at the international FC Bayern Youth Cup in Munich in May this year.

Author: Arunava Chaudhuri
Editor: Darren Mara