Stimac Speaks Out

Sayak Banerjee / 20-06-2024

“AIFF officials don’t know how to run football in the country. They don’t even know how to organize a cup. They only understand power.”

“IM Vijayan may be a great footballer and a legend of Indian football, but he is not the right person to be the president of the federation’s technical committee.”

“Without Indian-origin and expatriate Indian footballers, Indian football cannot progress. It will take at least 20 years to produce players of that caliber.”

“Kalyan (Chaubey) is only interested in gaining popularity by appearing in the media. Many will say he is a political figure, but even in Kolkata, no one knows him.”

“Many talk about my relationship with Kalyan, but I have no connection with the federation president. According to my job, I had to report to the general secretary of the federation.”

“The contract between the federation and FSDL is suspicious. There should be a public tender for such a contract. Competition in the league is ruined without promotion and relegation.”

“ISL’s big clubs are losing to clubs from Bangladesh and the Maldives, yet I am blamed when the Indian team loses to Afghanistan.”

“Dismissing Saji Prabhakaran (former general secretary of the federation) was not a good move.”

“Last year, I had already told my lawyer to prepare my resignation letter, but the federation officials came to me with a contract extension proposal.”

“Federation officials claim they have cleared my dues. This is false. It’s a large sum. The federation will have to beg its corporate partners. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“I haven’t had direct meetings with most Indian coaches, but my assistants were Venky (Shanmugam Venkatesh) and Mahesh (Gawli). I would say they are assets to Indian football coaching. I see a lot of potential in them.”

(In a virtual conversation with Indian journalists, Igor Stimac, the sacked coach of the Indian football team, shared these statements.)