AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: AIFF President Mr. Kalyan Chaubey, on Friday, March 29, 2024, held a virtual meeting with senior Federation members to discuss the recommendations made by the Technical Committee after India’s recent performance in the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualifiers Round 2 matches against Afghanistan.

The AIFF President and its members also took note of certain comments made by India head coach Igor Stimac in the press about his future with the team after the completion of the Round 2 qualifiers. The meeting was attended by 14 senior members of the Federation.

The AIFF President, after listening to all the members’ recommendations and suggestions, has constituted a five-member committee, comprising of Mr. N.A. Haris, Vice President, AIFF, Mr. Menla Ethenpa, Member, Executive Committee and Chairperson, Finance Committee, Mr. Anilkumar Prabhakaran, Member, Executive Committee and Chairperson, Competitions Committee, Mr. I/M. Vijayan, Member, Executive Committee and Chairperson, Technical Committee, and Mr. Climax Lawrence, Member, Executive Committee and Technical Committee. The newly-formed committee has been requested by the AIFF President to hold discussions with the India head coach and seek further clarification on the matter.

Earlier, on Thursday, the Technical Committee had met under the chairpersonship of Mr. Vijayan, where the members of the TC – Mrs. Pinky Bompal Magar, Mr. Shabbir Ali, Mr. Climax Lawrence, Mr. Victor Amalraj, and Mr. Santosh Singh – expressed their disappointment over India’s performance and recommended that discussions need to be held with the head coach before the next two World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait (June 6) and Qatar (June 11).

India played two World Cup qualifiers against Afghanistan in the March FIFA International Window. The first match in Abha, Saudi Arabia ended in a stalemate, while the second in Guwahati, saw India suffer a 1-2 defeat at the hands of the team ranked 158th in the world.