NEW DELHI, Jun 21: The All India Football Federation said on Friday that it will respond to ousted national coach Igor Stimac’s scathing attack against some of its senior functionaries in the next 48 hours, after the Croatian blamed AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey for the problems besetting the game in the country.
Stimac was on Monday sacked as head coach following the team’s failure to reach the third round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. A day later, he also threatened to file a lawsuit against the AIFF in the FIFA Tribunal if his outstanding dues were not cleared in 10 days.
The AIFF, in a statement issued following Stimac’s press conference on Friday, said, “It has come to our attention that former India men’s team head coach Mr. Igor Stimac has made certain remarks in the media pertaining to functioning of the All India Football Federation and some of its senior officials. The AIFF will issue a statement in this regard in the next 48 hours.”
In his lengthy online press conference, Stimac said Indian football is “imprisoned” and held Chaubey responsible for the situation. Stimac also said he was “fed up of the lies and unfulfilled promises” during his tenure.
“The sooner Kalyan Chaubey leaves AIFF, the better it is for Indian football,” Stimac said.
Stimac was appointed as the head coach following the departure of his predecessor Stephen Constantine in March 2019. But Stimac’s tenure ended after India suffered a defeat against Qatar in the final second round match of the World Cup Qualifiers earlier this month.
“Kalyan only cares about being popular — recent media meets shows that. You say he is a politician, no one knows him even in Kolkata. We need someone strong, influential and with backing to lead Indian football,” said Stimac.
“Kalyan’s priority is to increase clicks on social media and get photographed with famous players instead of thinking about the wellbeing of Indian football.
“Football is the most popular sport in the world, but India is the only place where football is not growing,” he added. (PTI)
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