Indian Football's YouTube Account gets hacked, then suspended

Kalyan Chaubey's tweet calls the sequence of events a conspiracy ahead of the Santosh Trophy semi-finals.

The AIFF (All India Football Federation) president Kalyan Chaubey has raised an issue over the suspension of the official Indian Football YouTube channel. He is claiming that the channel was first hacked during the recent streaming of Santosh Trophy matches and later suspended.

Kalyan Chaubey, on his official Twitter account, wrote ”There is a conspiracy and a devious scheme to scuttle the reputation of fast-growing Indian football with high-quality streaming. @IndianFootball had a large Viewership @Youtube during #HeroSantoshTrophy it was first hacked and now the account has been suspended. Who is behind this?”

Santosh trophy matches were streamed on the Indian Football Youtube channel and FanCode app.

Four teams (Punjab, Meghalaya, Karnataka, and Services) have qualified for the semifinals in the 76th edition of the Santosh Trophy. The semifinals and final are set to be held in King Fahd International Stadium in Saudi Arabia from 01-04 March 2023. 

Format of the Santosh Trophy semi-finals

Contrary to the recent seasons, from this edition onwards, the AIFF has adopted a new format for the tournament that saw the removal of the qualification stage, thereby allowing all the state teams to participate in the group stage. This move was taken in a way for promoting the sport in every region of the country. On 6 October 2022, the AIFF signed an MoU with the SAFF (Saudi Arabian Football Federation), which included an agreement to host the semi-finals, the third-place decider, and the final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A total of 36 teams participated in the tournament and were divided into six groups with each group accompanying six teams. The top two teams from each group qualified for the group stages. 12 qualified teams were further divided into two groups (in the group stage) and the top two teams from each group progressed through to the semifinals. Meghalaya created history and qualified for the knockout stage (the first time in the history of the Santosh Trophy).

Reigning champions Kerala couldn't qualify falling short by one point and finishing third in Group A. West Bengal the runners-up in the previous edition also failed to qualify by finishing sixth with one point. 

Semi-finals Schedule 

01 March

Punjab vs Meghalaya

Karnataka vs Services