Syed Sabir Pasha becomes first Indian to become AIFF Technical Director on full-time role

The 50-year-old served a long tenure as the Chennaiyin FC assistant coach.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has appointed former India International Mr Syed Sabir Pasha as the AIFF Technical Director (TD). He is the first Indian to be appointed to this position on a full-time basis. 

Pasha brings with him a lot of experience of having played and coached both at the domestic and international level for several years.

Welcoming Pasha to the Federation, AIFF President, Mr. Kalyan Chaubey said, "We are very happy that Syed Sabir Pasha, a former India International, who served the country for long, has joined us in our endeavour to take Indian Football forward.  Given his experience and the work he has done throughout his playing and coaching career, he is a deserving candidate to be the Technical Director. We are very sure that he will grow in the job and will be taking the leadership role in the technical matters of Indian football."

Secretary General Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran said, "We wish Syed Sabir Pasha all the good luck. He will be guided and mentored by senior pro Vincent Subramanyam, who is our Chief Technical Officer. And under both of them, we will be able to build a strong technical team, that would take Indian football to the next level in achieving the ‘Vision 2047’ and all the aspects in the strategic roadmap, starting with talent development, elite player development and coming up with our own philosophy of football. 

"Therefore, there is a huge amount of work ahead. And it's not going to be easy, but we are confident that we will be able to grow and create a new era for Indian football," Dr. Prabhakaran added.

Sabir Pasha made his National Team debut in the 1993 Nehru Cup and played 12 matches. He is famous in Indian Football circles for scoring the all-important goal in the final of 1995 SAF Games against Bangladesh in Chennai. Pasha has played and participated in international tournaments like Nehru Cup in 1993 and 1995, SAFF Cup in 1995, SAF Games in 1995, Asia Cup Qualifiers in 1996 and World Cup Qualifiers in 1996. 

Pasha has many laurels to his name such as winning Gold Medal in the 1995 SAF Games and being runners up in the 1995 SAFF Cup in 1995. The former winger won the Golden Boot twice in 1994 with 6 goals and in 1998 with 9 goals. He has scored 26 goals in the Santosh Trophy with Tamil Nadu. At the club level, he represented Indian Bank.