NEW DELHI: The freshly minted All India Football Federation executive committee, chaired by new elected president Kalyan Chaubey, has appointed Delhi Football president Dr Shaji Prabhakaran as AIFF secretary general.
The appointment was as per expectations.
Chaubey proposed Prabhakaran’s name at the meeting and it was unanimously accepted by the committee. The EC, as per Chaubey’s proposal, also unanimously appointed Sunando Dhar as the AIFF’s new deputy secretary general.
“Dr Shaji’s previous experience as FIFA Regional Development Officer (South and Central Asia) will bring in new and fresh ideas which will provide the much-needed fillip to Indian Football,” Chaubey averred.
Besides Chaubey, vice president NA Haris, treasurer Ajay Kipa, all other newly elected EC members and the six eminent footballers co-opted in the committee, except Bhaichung Bhutia (trounced by Chaubey in the elections held last week), were present at Saturday’s meeting.
Welcoming the members, Chaubey said: “This is the first time that six former eminent players are part of the committee as per the order of the Honourable Supreme Court. We need to work together, and at no time should any personal ego come as a roadblock on our endeavour to take Indian football forward together. Discipline is the key to success, and we need to be accountable as per the deadlines set.”
In a related development, the EC also appointed IM Vijayan as the chairman of the new AIFF technical committee. Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Climax Lawrence, Harjinder Singh, Arun Malhotra and Ms. Pinki Bompal will be the other members of the AIFF Technical Committee.
Meanwhile, former India captain Shabbir Ali was unanimously named as the chairman of AIFF’s advisory committee.
