AIFF President Clarifies His Position On Recent Allegations Against Him

AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey, in a letter to the top office bearers of the Member Associations and the Executive Committee members, addressed the several allegations made against him in recent media reports. Mentioning that he has served a defamation notice to the party that has launched a kind of media trial (Advocate Nilanjan Bhattacharjee) against him, the AIFF President wrote, "I did not want to dignify them (the allegations) with a response, preferring instead to address any concerns directly during the upcoming AGM (on March 10, 2024), and clarify any doubts you might have.

"However, now we can all see that these allegations have been politicised and widely spread with a clear and malicious intent, not only to damage my reputation but also to destabilise the AIFF."

Chaubey went on to highlight different points on which allegations were made against him.

IndiGo contract: The AIFF President explained the circumstances around which he met IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers. While he had initially met Elbers in his capacity as a Joint Secretary of the IOA, Chaubey had presented the idea of a partnership between the AIFF and IndiGo.

While he explained in his letter that since IndiGo is a low-cost airline that owns 62 percent of the Indian aviation market, a sponsorship deal was off the table, the airline did show interest in a marketing and promotion partnership. It was decided that the marketing teams of both organisations would hold discussions on the same, with the approval from FSDL. However, the AIFF President mentioned that the agreement has not been signed to date, and "is not in effect".

"The idea of the partnership with IndiGo was that of barter, to promote Indian Football through Indigo's various mediums (like outdoor