Even as India struggles to get its act right in international football, an Indian-origin coach in Germany, Robin Dutt, has earned recognition for playing a key role in setting up the youth academy programme for the German Football Association (DFB).
Born and brought up in Cologne as son of a German mother and a Bengali father from Kolkata, Dutt never made it big as a player, but did better as coach and in managerial roles with a couple of Bundesliga clubs and at DFB.
His father is known to have shifted base to Germany in late 1950s.
"He has been doing good, he is responsible for setting up the youth academies for DFB," an official of the German Football League, which administers the top flight Bundesliga, told PTI on the sidelines of a workshop here today.
The 50-year-old is currently employed as director of football at Bundesliga club VFB Stuttgart, where he started work at the beginning of this year after the sacking of former chief Fredi Bobic.
A concerned Dutt, who recently felt that inflated transfer fees and salaries are a sign of the greed eating away at football, is also not known to stay put at a particular place for too long.
"He was at the DFB when he set up the youth academies for them, then he worked as coach at (Werder) Bremen before joining Stuttgart as their manager," a DFL official said.
Besides managing Bundesliga sides Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen, Dutt previously coached SC Freiburg after taking over from the long-serving Volker Finke in 2007.
He had in the past also managed Stuttgarter Kickers for four years. Starting from the 2011-12 season, he signed a two-year managerial contract with Leverkusen after the departure of Jupp Heynckes
Dutt gave up his role at the DFB to take charge of Bremen in 2013, but after successfully guiding them to a safe mid-table finish in his first season, he was relieved of his duties while they were inside the bottom three.
Dutt called for restriction measures in Bundesliga in the wake of recent reports about Manchester City's Euro 69 million offer for Wolfsburg's Kevin de Bruyne in the latest summer transfer window. According to Dutt, the current trend is hurting the game at the home of world champions.
