Indian footballer Bhaichung Bhutia made a scathing review of AIFF’s functioning and development of football under President Kalyan Chaubey’s leadership.
The former Indian skipper, at a media conference at the Calcutta Sports Journalists Club on Friday, alleged that Chaubey had turned the All Indian Football Federation into a circus and termed the head a joker.
“It is very unfortunate that we are 133rd in Fifa rankings. We all watched how we are struggling in the Asian Cup Qualifiers,” the 48-year-old said.
He continued, “I believe we have a good chance of qualifying but at the same time we have to realize that the Asian Cup now has 24 teams, compared to 16 during my captaincy, so we must qualify,” he added.
“Our great President Kalyan Chaubey had earlier said we will be in the top 10 in Asia by 2026. Now he is saying we should have prepared for this 10 years ago,” the Sikkimese Sniper said.
“In three years under Kalyan Chaubey, even our women’s team has gone down,” Bhutia continued. Bhutia, in his explanation, focused on the importance of grass-route development, especially, alleging the AIFF top bosses for imposing several restrictions on the academies across the country. “The AIFF is suppressing the country’s several academies by imposing restrictions which are forcing the academies not to participate in the grass-route level competitions. But you have to promote the academies to explore talents and scout talents from there,” explained Bhaichung.
He also defended the allegations against his Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools of taking undue advantage by playing on emotions.
“I usually don’t talk about Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools during a press conference but it is high time,” the former striker said. He added, “We had started the tournament 12 years back and within 2-3 years we decided we needed to be sustainable. That is when we started the after-school program. 30% of students are on a full scholarship whereas 70% are focused on after-school programs. We have got 220 coaches, and 70 centers and are the biggest grassroots program in the nation. All the money that comes in goes towards our goal,” he explained.
“Kalyan had talked about the FIFA Academy, four players were from our school. He talked about the women’s academy. Our club Garhwal FC had won the IWL-2 in which Indian Arrows finished runners-up. He has not done anything to contribute to football, even when he played he was focused on politics,” Bhutia signed off.
However, the AIFF president on Friday issued a statement against Bhutia, saying the former India captain ‘has consistently and deliberately made baseless allegations and presented a distorted image of the AIFF’. “However, it has been observed that since Mr. Bhaichung Bhutia’s defeat in the September 2022 elections, he has consistently and deliberately made baseless allegations and presented a distorted image of the AIFF. Such actions not only tarnish the reputation of the Federation but also throw Indian football in a negative light on international platforms,” His statement said.
Chaubey added, “The AIFF always remains open to constructive suggestions from Mr. Bhutia for the growth and betterment of Indian football”, but said that the former forward has contributed to opposing decisions made by the board. I would like to inform you that Bhutia is most welcome to participate in the upcoming AIFF Executive Committee Meeting scheduled for 2nd July. The official invitation for his attendance was extended by the AIFF Secretariat on 11th June. He is encouraged to present any constructive proposals during the meeting, which will be duly deliberated upon by the entire executive board in the spirit of transparency, collaboration, and the collective development of Indian football,” the statement concluded.
