Report evaluating India coach Stimac by Sept. 19: Chaubey

On December 16, 2020, Kalyan Chaubey informed the media that he had moved the Supreme Court to not extend the tenure of the executive committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) beyond December 21, 2020 as president Praful Patel would have completed three terms by then. The former goalkeeper had also pleaded that players be allowed to contest AIFF polls.

On Saturday, Chaubey chaired his first executive committee meeting as AIFF president and announced a raft of decisions including the appointment of Football Delhi president Shaji Prabhakaran as secretary-general and former India captain IM Vijayan as head of AIFF’s technical committee. Another former India captain Shabbir Ali was named chairman of AIFF’s advisory committee.

The technical committee also has retired footballers Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Arun Malhotra, Harjinder Singh, Climax Lawrence and former woman player Pinki Bompal Magar.

“Along with Ali, they will evaluate the performance of India head coach Igor Stimac,” said Chaubey over the phone from New Delhi on Saturday.

Stimac’s contract ends this month. Chaubey said the technical committee will submit the report on Stimac’s performance to the AIFF executive committee on September 19. Under Stimac, India qualified for the 2023 Asian Cup and won the 2021 SAFF Championship.

Prabhakaran, a former regional development officer at FIFA and AIFF national team director, replaced Kushal Das as the full time head of the AIFF secretariat which for the past three months was headed by Sunando Dhar. The former AIFF Leagues CEO, Dhar will be the deputy secretary-general replacing former India forward Abhishek Yadav. The leagues’ head would be decided once the competitions committee is formed, said Chaubey.

Re-elected last March at Football Delhi after becoming president in 2017, Prabhakaran said elections would have to be called for the president’s post now.

Bhutia absent

Bhaichung Bhutia did not attend Saturday’s meeting. As India’s most capped retired footballer, Bhutia is an automatic choice as one of the six eminent players co-opted to the executive committee. He had said on Friday that he was undecided on joining but by leaving town Bhutia has possibly given the biggest indication that he wouldn’t. Chaubey said AIFF would wait to hear from Bhutia first.