Hyderabad: Recently sacked Indian football coach Igor Stimac launched a scathing attack on the All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey saying he should leave Indian football as soon as possible.
AIFF sacked former India coach Stimac on June 17 after India’s disappointing campaign in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers as the Men in Blue failed to make it to the 2026 World Cup. A day later, he threatened to file a lawsuit against AIFF demanding full payment and outstanding dues.
In the press conference held on Friday, Stimac went no holds barred while expressing himself and bashed the federation. "The sooner Kalyan Chaubey leaves AIFF, the better it is for Indian football. Football is the most popular sport in the world, but India is the only place where football is not growing,"
Stimac asserted.
“In my career, I’ve not been sacked till now, this was the first time. And it was wrongly so – in my reply to AIFF I’ve done the same. It was impossible for me to continue without enough support, I was fed up with the lies, the unfulfilled promises and being surrounded by people who are only thinking about their own interests,” the 56-year-old said from Croatia.
The Croatian was appointed as the head coach after the departure of Stephen Constantine from the post in March 2019. Stimac also revealed that he had warned AIFF about the importance of the World Cup Qualifiers over the Asia Cup but they didn't listen to him.
“After I told them that the World Cup Qualifiers were more important than the Asian Cup, I received a final warning from AIFF. When I received the final warning on December 2, no one knew this, I finished in the hospital. I was disturbed by everything going on; stressed by the obvious problems. I had an immediate surgery on my heart. I wasn’t ready to speak to anyone or find excuses. I was ready to put myself on the line to prepare my team for the Asian Cup to give the best shot,” Stimac said.
Notably, AIFF have responded with an official statement that they will respond to Stimac 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 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," the statement read.
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