The All India Football Federation (AIFF) will not send its senior national men’s team on a chartered flight to Abha in Saudi Arabia. Confirmation came on Wednesday less than one week after AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey had promised India head coach Igor Stimac of flying directly for India’s World Cup qualifier against Afghanistan on March 21.
The squad is scheduled to fly out on Friday. “They will fly to Jeddah from Delhi and from there to Abha,” an AIFF official said on Wednesday. Cost and unavailability of aircraft that could carry the contingent of 40-odd including staff were why a chartered flight could not be arranged, the official said. The official did not want to be named.
Those in the squad from the FC Goa-Bengaluru FC match in Goa on Thursday will travel separately. The first batch leaving from Delhi will reach Abha on Friday evening. The group from Goa are scheduled to reach Abha around noon on Saturday.
The development comes after last Friday’s media release from AIFF quoted Chaubey as saying that a chartered flight would be arranged to solve the “genuine logistical problems the team could be facing while travelling there.” This was part of AIFF’s “no-compromise stand on issues related to the national team,” Chaubey had said. Stimac had pointed out that India would have to change flights and which could cost players “two days of training and acclimatisation at Abha which is 2270m above sea level,” as per the media release.
AFC seeks evidence
On Tuesday, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) asked former AIFF legal head Nilanjan Bhattacharjee for evidence to back his allegations against Chaubey. The former legal head has till March 18 to submit “a full written report.”
“We refer to the attached media articles in which we note that allegations relating to corruption have been made by you against the All India Football Federation (AIFF) President, Mr Kalyan Chaubey.
“In light of the seriousness of this matter, we kindly request that you provide the AFC with a full written report… by 18 March 2024 at the latest,” Barry Lysaght, deputy secretary to the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee, wrote to Bhattacharjee.
Chaubey had written to AIFF members and officials denying the charges. At its annual general meeting in Itanagar on Sunday, AIFF had passed a resolution saying the “personal attacks” on its president were “motivated” and “outright insult” to all its members.
“I will speak up if I find something is wrong. The allegations were found to be baseless by AIFF at its AGM and that does not change with AFC asking for information. Anyone can make allegations but why is he not providing proof to back them,” said NA Harris, AIFF vice-president. “The AIFF is solidly behind Mr Chaubey,” said executive committee member Menla Ethenpa.
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