This IIM grad may be the next Ronaldinho

For those young lads in Gujarat dreaming of becoming the world’s next Ronaldinho or Zidane, there is a young man from Vadodara working hard to clear their paths to goal.

Twenty-six-year-old, Satyajit Sadanand, who is set to graduate from IIM-Lucknow next month, turned down a Rs 9-lakh lateral placement offer in January from global investment bank JP Morgan Chase. He is instead planning to join a European football club to gain experience in the modern techniques of coaching and professional club management to fulfil his goal of making football a viable career in India.

He says football is his first love. He gets a kick out of it, literally.

“It is a misconception that football isn’t popular in India,” says Sadanand. “The problem is there is no future in football for young players here.”