AIFF General Secretary M. Satyanarayan defends Amelia Valverde's appointment for AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026

AIFF admits jersey sizing error

The Indian women’s football team had a pretty disappointing AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 campaign, losing all three of their group games and finishing bottom of their group. The Blue Tigresses suffered narrow losses to Vietnam and Chinese Taipei, and the appointment of Costa Rican coach Amelia Valverde didn’t really work out.

The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) have come under heavy criticism for rushing their way to appoint Valverde as the head coach just for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

Many fans felt that Crispin Chhetri, who helped India qualify for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, was wrongfully sacked from the role just so that a foreign coach could be appointed.

However, the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) acting general secretary, M. Satyanarayan, has defended the decision to appoint Amelia Valverde as the Blue Tigresses head coach before the tournament.

He stated in a press event: “The technical committee had passed it (Valverde’s appointment), and we were also running short of time. We’ll give her the answer after the executive committee meeting.”

“It was not like some of us appointed the coach; the technical committee has some of the best players in India, with Mr. (IM) Vijayan as the chairman. So, Amelia’s appointment was cleared by the technical committee,” he added.

Clarification over kits controversy

Another controversy that arose with the Indian Women’s team was how they received small-sized kits before the start of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

Many players complained that they received kits meant for youth team players, and there were rumors that the female stars had to go into the market in Perth to buy jerseys to train before the first match against Vietnam.

Satyanarayan spoke about this issue in detail as well, explaining: “I have to clarify this, but when the team left from here for Türkiye. We gave them two sets of jerseys from Performax, and we got their permission from Performax because we hadn’t agreed on the jersey agreement. Each player took 27 pieces of kit, which included four pairs of stockings, warm-up tracksuits and everything, and they played with Türkiye. I had a talk with Nivia at that time, and they said it’s too short a time and we can’t give you the kits for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.”

“So then we ordered the kits from one company, which manufactures garments, and the same quality was given to the U17 men’s team, who were very happy with it. So we ordered the kits, and it went directly to Australia. Unfortunately, the jersey sizing which were given were small, large and medium, and we gave the same size of jerseys. We tried to measure it, but when it landed over there on match day minus two, some of the girls found it very tight. They got Macron kits from the market, and within seven hours, we replaced them.”

“All of them got their kits with their numbers and names, and we also had two sets of kits there as they carried them from here. It was a mistake; all of us ordered garments, and sometimes it doesn’t fit. We’ve had so many events in the last three years, twenty times kits have gone, and we gave them decent kits. This was an unintentional error, and we replaced them within seven hours with Macron kits and the kits were approved by the match commissioner. A lot of wrong information was then spread about the girls themselves buying kits, and yes, we admit, it was a mistake, and no one can say the AIFF did it intentionally,” he further stated.

The Indian women’s team will return to action in April 2026, when they take part in the FIFA Women’s Series. However, the AIFF has to resolve their head coach role, with a new coach likely to be appointed before those matches.

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