‘Time to call elections and reorganise AIFF’: Bhaichung Bhutia on the way forward for Indian football

New Delhi: In the course of the past year, Indian football has taken a huge hit in their progression towards raising the standards of the sport in the country. With the team not having won a single game yet in 2024 and the off pitch drama at an all time high, the question arises what is the need of the hour?

In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Bhaichung Bhutia discusses the state of Indian football, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey’s tenure, the need of the hour for Indian football and more.

IANS: The national team is yet to win a game this year, what do you believe is the reason behind this run of poor performances?

Bhaichung: I am not worried about the team. The team is going to take its time to settle down with a new coach. In Indian football, more than on the field, I think there are a lot of challenges off the field. The worst thing is that our U-20 team, who are going to be the next generation of Indian football, are struggling big time. They lost against Bangladesh and failed to qualify for the Asia Cup as well. The senior team has not won a game in 2024. The issues have more to do with the Federation.

IANS: What is the need of the hour for Indian football?

Bhaichung: This body as a whole was made because of the FIFA suspension. It’s a temporary governing body that’s been ruling. The first thing we need is to get everything reorganised; we need a constitution, as we do not have one for football. We need the entire system in a situation where everything is haywire. There is a lot of infighting in the federation. I think that is a major issue.

There are plans that need to be implemented in the grass roots well. The Supreme Court has already made a constitution, but the Federation has not accepted yet as they wanted a few changes. Once the constitution comes in, there needs to be a re-election.”

IANS: Kalyan Chaubey is a former goalkeeper for the national team. What are your thoughts on having a sportsperson at the helm?

Bhaichung: I think it’s a great opportunity for a sportsperson to come into administration, but if you bring the wrong person, then you mess it up. We had the opportunity with Kalyan Chaubey when he came in. The problem is people think that sportspersons can’t be great administrators and people like us who are trying to change Indian football, and then when you have people like Kalyan Chaubey, he gets the opportunity and completely messes it up and sets the wrong trend for us to come into it because of the wrong example he has set.

IANS: Recently, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief PT Usha also levelled accusations against Kalyan Chaubey for ‘impersonating as the acting CEO of the IOA’. What are your thoughts on that?

Bhaichung: I feel sorry for PT Usha ma’am and the IOA. We have all seen what Kalyan Chaubey has done to the football federation. The credibility of the Federation has taken a huge hit during his tenure. We have never had our lawyers and general secretary accuse the president of corruption. He has made many decisions, like pulling out as Asia Cup hosts and awarding it to Saudi Arabia, taking the Santosh Trophy to Saudi Arabia as well. He then makes statements like the North Eastern players are too short and we’re looking at tall players from Rajasthan.

These are all very dumb statements that he’s making. He’s already ruined the Football Federation, and now he’s trying to damage the Indian Olympic Association as well. We’ve never had such negative publicity before that has happened under Kalyan. I saw that he is also involved with the IOA, acting as the CEO of the IOA, which is very unfortunate.

IANS: What happened that led to your resignation from the AIFF technical committee?

Bhaichung: It’s so disgusting that the entire episode of choosing the new coach happened in front of my eyes in an executive committee meeting. It’s not the duty of the president to select the coach. It was the duty of the technical committee. In the press, they then claimed that the decision was made in the Technical Committee meeting, which was a blatant lie. It has nothing to do with the coach; we would have probably chosen Manolo Marquez as well, but the process was wrong.

IANS: What were your personal thoughts on the accusations by former head coach Igor Stimac?

Bhaichung: One of the biggest examples is how Igor Stimac’s contract termination took place. Whatever flaws were in the contract were there, but we have had previous managers whose contracts were terminated; it’s about how you deal with it. The president messed it up so much, and the two egos clashed so big that Stimac even mentioned in the media that the president did not even come to see the team. That’s the reason the Federation has to pay 4 Cr to get his contract terminated. When the Federation is struggling financially, you have put an extra 4 crore burden on it because of mismanagement by a senior person, Kalyan Chaubey.

IANS: It’s been nine months since you previously called for Kalyan Chaubey’s resignation on a public platform. Do you believe the need for that is still there?

Bhaichung: You have a lawyer (Nilanjan Bhattacharjee) of the federation accusing him of corruption; you have the former General Secretary (Shaji Prabhakaran), who was appointed by you and then removed within a couple of months, putting serious accusations on the president. When you have those kinds of allegations, it’s time to step down, accept the new constitutions, and call the elections.

IANS: Message for Indian football fans

Bhaichung: Indian football fans deserve much better. In terms of performance and results are different, but at least give them the platform to perform. We talk so much about the grassroots level and the vision in the media, but it’s important to take them seriously, and it’s important to have someone who has the knowledge to implement them.

Indian football lately has focused on NGO work like raising funds, playing charity matches, and creating playing areas, which is good, but your job is to make sure Indian football grows. As Igor Stimac also said, we need to start qualifying for the junior Asia Cups and FIFA World Cups on merit, and you see the team losing against Bangladesh. I don’t think the AIFF is very serious when it comes to grass root development.

–IANS