Igor Stimac hints AIFF decision-making based on social media reactions

The Croatian did not hold back against the AIFF.

Igor Stimac is not holding back from exposing the hidden truths about Indian football since being sacked as the head coach of the Indian football team. The Croatian is ready to take the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to court if he’s not paid his dues and is fuming at the way the federation let him go after five years on the job.

A few days after his sacking, Stimac spoke to the media about a range of topics. An interesting thing that he pointed out was that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) often depends its decision-making on popular social media reactions. Basically, he indicated that their decisions are based on what the majority of fans are saying online or the changes that they are asking for.

He slammed the way the AIFF operates and how it makes decision based on what fans on social media tell them to. He explained,  “From October (2023), the only thing that happened that Shaji (Prabhakaran) was removed from the office. Once he was removed, everything was quiet. No more words about my staff, no more say about their contract renewals or about supporting the national team. At that time, everyone knows how much we suffered in the King’s Cup and Merdeka Cup only because of referee decisions and how much generally we suffered when we played in away games.

“Obviously, things are changing in my process based on what the social media says or thinks. That’s a terrible thing for football to have. That is not how a football team should be run. A football house should be stable, should have a clear structure and process of runnng not depending of what someone writes or says. That is the only way to go forward with football, but obviously, in India, that is still not the case.

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“Knowing that we won’t get enough time for Asian Cup preparations and having been disappointed so much with everything, I said a few things in public which caused me getting a show-cause letter. After that, I said that the World Cup Qualifiers should be more important than the Asian Cup as we wouldn’t get enough time to prepare – I received final warning letters from AIFF – always mentioning that they are providing support and will do everything for the team to do well. Of course, always these were just words and nothing happening beside that,” he also stated.

The AIFF is yet to respond to these accusations by Stimac. Meanwhile, the Croat is ready to take them to court if he isn’t paid the remainder of his salary that he was owed for the entirety of his contract, which was supposed to expire in June 2026 before his sacking.

Reacting to media reports surrounding Stimac’s comments, the AIFF issued a statement on Friday evening, saying, “It has come to our attention that former India men’s team head coach Igor Stimac has made certain remarks in the media pertaining to functioning of the All India Football Federation and some of its senior officials. The AIFF will issue a statement in this regards in the next 48 hours.”

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