Former Crystal Palace boss Steve Coppell has explained his decision to coach in India.

He is currently at the helm of ATK.

Coppell told cpfc.co.uk: "Significant progress has been made. The league I'm in is called the Indian Super League where they have a range of foreign players coming to join and I think that's done an awful lot to enhance the Indian footballers and has been significant in their progress to near the top 100 in the world.

"One thing you admire about India is that to play for India, you have to have an Indian passport. If they actually took second or third generation footballers like the rest of the world do for their national team they'd be far stronger than they are."

He added: "I've done it for three years and this is my third different team. Each year has been a different experience. At the moment I'm working in Kolkata which is the real hotbed of soccer in India. There are two Indian teams who are based in Kolkata, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan and when they play each other there will be 70, 80 or 90,000 watching the game.

"It's very much a second sport for most of India but it is growing in certain areas and it is significant."