AIFF president : Kalyan Chaubey Pips Legendary Bhaichung Bhutia For the Coveted Post

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) got a former player as its president for the first time in its 85-year history when Kalyan Chaubey trounced the legendary Bhaichung Bhutia in the election for the top post .

The 45-year-old Chaubey, who played as a goalkeeper, emerged winner with a comprehensive 33-1 margin — a result that was expected as former captain Bhutia did not have many supporters in the 34-member voters’ list, made up of state association representatives.

Chaubey’s last two predecessors — Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and Praful Patel — were full-time politicians.

The ‘Sikkimese Sniper’, also 45, is one of the biggest legends in Indian football and his candidature had got the elections additional traction.

Chaubey, a BJP politician who lost the last parliamentary election for the Krishnanagar seat in West Bengal, never played for the India senior team though he was in the squad on a few occasions.

He, however, played for India in age-group international tournaments. He was also a former goalkeeper at Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, both heavyweights in Indian club football with a rich legacy.

In fact, Bhutia and Chaubey were one-time teammates at East Bengal.

Karnataka Football Association president N A Haris, a sitting Congress MLA, won the election for the lone post of vice president, beating Manvendra Singh of Rajasthan FA 29-5.

Arunachal Pradesh’s Kipa Ajay beat Gopalakrishna Kosaraju of Andhra Pradesh for the treasurer’s post 32-1 with one vote being invalid.

Kosaraju and Manvendra proposed and seconded Bhutia.

All the 14 candidates who had filed nominations for as many executive committee members’ posts were elected unopposed.

In his first reactions after the polls, Bhutia said, “I will keep working for the betterment of Indian football in future. Congratulations to Kalyan, I hope he will take Indian football forward.”

“Thanks to all football fans across India for showing supporting me so much. I’ve been working for football before the elections, and will continue to do the same. I’m there in executive committee.”

The elections of the AIFF office bearers brought to an end a sordid saga which saw the ouster of former president Praful Patel for failing to hold polls due in December 2020, the formation of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) and its removal by the Supreme Court after India was suspended by world football governing body FIFA for “undue influence from third parties”.

The new executive committee comprises G P Palguna, Avijit Paul, P Anilkumar, Valanka Natasha Alemao, Maloji Raje Chhatrapati, Menla Ethenpa, Mohan Lal, Arif Ali, K Neibou Sekhose, Lalnghinglova Hmar, Deepak Sharma, Vijay Bali and Syed Imtiaz Husain.

Bhutia, I M Vijayan, Shabbir Ali and Climax Lawrence will be in the EC as players’ representatives.

Chaubey is a graduate from the renowned Tata Football Academy (TFA). Some of Chaubey’s batchmates are Dipendu Biswas, Rennedy Singh, Lolendro Singh, and former Mohun Bagan coach Shankarlal Chakraborty.

Chaubey made his senior club football debut in 1996 with Mohun Bagan and went on to represent East Bengal, JCT and Salgaocar among others from 1997 to 2003.

The former goalkeeper is remembered for being a part of SAFF Championship winning squad thrice and representing five different states in the national championship during his career.

During his professional career spanning 15 years, Chaubey became a five-time runner-up in the I-League/National Football League.

He had been to Germany for trials in Bundesliga clubs like Karlsruher SC and VfR Heilbronn.

After his retirement as a player, he served many football associations and also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Krishnanagar Constituency, where he lost to Trinamool Congress’ Mohua Moitra.

Chaubey is married to former Mohun Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra’s daughter Sohini.

Chaubey represented the Indian team in U-17 Asian Youth Championship held at Tehran in 1994, U-20 Asian Youth Championship held at Suwon/Seol South Korea in 1996 and pre-Olympic Qualification 1999 00.

The polls were earlier scheduled to be held under the aegis of the CoA on August 28. But, in a verdict on August 22, the SC terminated the mandate of the CoA, disallowed the inclusion of 36 former players in the electoral college and postponed the polls by a week in order to salvage the Women’s U-17 World Cup whose hosting was jeopardised after FIFA suspended the AIFF.

The world football governing body though lifted the ban on August 26, clearing the decks for India to host the showpiece in October.