The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is set to respond to former coach Igor Stimac's remarks against its functioning on Friday, January 21. Stimac publicly disapproved of his sacking during the press conference and criticised the function of Indian football and raised questions over the integrity of AIFF officebearers.
In their response to Stimac's remarks, the AIFF released an official statement noting the Serbian's rant and revealed that they will have an official reply in the next 48 hours.
"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 the functioning of the All India Football Federation and some of its senior officials," AIFF statement said. "The AIFF will issue a statement in this regards in the next 48 hours."
Things were expected to escalate further after Igor Stimac blamed the officials for 'only caring about power' over the development of Indian football. He criticised the AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey saying the latter only cares about social status and added that Indian football will only improve if Chaubey leaves.
"The president of the AIFF gets pictures clicked with people in important positions for social media. Kalyan (Chaubey) only cares about being popular," Stimac said. "Me and Kalyan never had a relationship. I reported to the secretary general. The president doesn't indulge. The people in AIFF don't know how to run a football house. They only care about power. Sooner Kalyan Chaubey leave, Indian football stands a chance."
Stimac also revealed that he had already planned to leave his role even if India had made it to the third round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers 2026.
"Your football (Indian football) is imprisoned. It will take a couple of decades for things to improve, which I don't see happening," said Stimac. "My senior players already knew that I had decided to leave, even if we qualified for the third round. It was impossible for me to continue without proper support, full of lies and people who only have private interests. The AIFF's biggest achievement in the last five years was keeping me quiet."
