Friedrich on ISL

DW: Manuel Friedrich, after 250 Bundesliga matches, India is your first stop abroad. Why here?

I've wanted to move to India for a year-and-a-half now, and it was the first serious situation where I had listened to and felt that the people were really behind the idea. The concept as a whole helped too. A completely new league which takes place as a kind of tournament, and the main objective is to make football more attractive in India because it's not the number one sport. The whole experience just impressed me. I was in Mumbai two or three years ago, so I knew what to expect from both the city and the country. We even have Indian friends in Germany, so we opened ourselves up for that adventure.

So you had no problems settling in?

No. I'm a very sociable guy, so there were no problems at all. Of course, it's a massive change due to the weather and humidity. We only train on artificial turf at the moment because it's monsoon season - and I'm really not used to that. But you get used to everything. It's just really fun to kick a football around here. And on Sunday, it finally gets going.

In the Bundesliga, everything is very professional and organized perfectly. What's it like in India?

You can't begin to compare the two. The fact is, it's not even the number one sport and there's not very much value placed on these things. All of the facilities there are not here. Much of what is deemed in Germany as normal isn't here. But that was clear to me from the outset. If there's still a snag somewhere, then that's fine with me. But you can't compare it with Germany because they are two completely different beasts.

Have you had to deal with situations that you had never expected in India?

No, no real difficulties. But when I arrived here, the club didn't even exist. Just two weeks later, came the official opening ceremony where the club was presented. But before that, we had no training kit and no logo. So for the first few days we have been training in our own kits. That would be unthinkable in Germany, as each club comes with its own training kits. Also we decided that we would live in a hotel because you aren't actually permitted to live more than five kilometers apart in Mumbai. If people are scattered throughout the city, then that would not work. That's why we all live together in a hotel, drive to the training ground and then take a shower back at the hotel. In Germany, every club has a training center, and then you have your own locker: you come in, train, and the next day everything has its own place. That's not the way it is here, but I knew that would be the case and what an adventure it would be.

The league was recently built from scratch. The teams are full of international veterans. The marketing is very elaborate. Do you think this idea is something that can give Indian football a steady base for the future?

I hope so. Of course, that's not foreseeable over the next two, three weeks. But I think the bosses of their respective clubs have a long-term plan, and say, in three to five years we want to bring more football here. Obviously it depends a lot on how it is received, how attractive the football is that we offer, whether we draw people to the stadiums on a daily basis - the first stage has a game every day. That's not like Germany where all of the matches take place at the weekend and during the week you can rest. This is a short and snappy tournament. And I hope we can reach out to as many football fans as possible and rank alongside sports, such as, cricket and Kabbadi.

Have you picked up on the popularity or even the sense of anticipation among fans?

We have been outside a bit, but not in the middle of the hustle and bustle. But we have our opening match on Sunday in Kolkata and then 120,000 people will get to watch us. I do believe that there will be a good atmosphere and excitement when fans enter the stadium. We just want to play a good and attractive tournament and I'm really proud to be involved and be the first German to play here. I want to actually win the tournament too, but it's a completely unusual setup. I believe none of us have been through a situation where essentially there are eight new teams and you have no idea how strong the other sides are. In every team, there will be five Indians and six foreigners together on the pitch who've never played together, so it's a classic mixed bag.

The championship in India only lasts two months. What happens after that?

I don't know yet. I'm just happy to get things going now. Then in December, I hope we will have the chance to lift the trophy or the cup.

Not even that is certain?

I don't know, I'm not worried about it yet, but I would like to win this thing! And I'm sure we have a good chance. I feel really good at the moment and I have the desire to play more football. I'll decide what happens next in December.