Igor Stimac believes IM Vijayan is not fit to lead AIFF technical committee

The Croatian football manager spoke against the AIFF technical committee chairman.

Days after being sacked as the head coach of the Indian football team, Igor Stimac has hit back at the All India Football Federation and certain members currently in the federation. He’s infuriated at the manner in which he was sacked, after only receiving a new contract in October (2023).

Stimac believes that there are quite a few people in the AIFF who probably don’t deserve to be in their roles. He has taken a fresh swipe at the chairman of the AIFF technical committee and Indian football legend IM Vijayan.

At a recent virtual meet with the media, the Croatian explained, “I’ll tell you very honestly, that IM Vijayan was a fantastic player, but he’s not the personality to be representing the technical committee. A long time ago, I told president Kalyan (Chaubey) that each country had one of the technical committee members should be with the team witnessing the work we do, what kind of work we (coaches) provide to the players and how we operate as a team.

“You’d think they did it, they’d sent someone? I told them it’s necessary for a member of the technical committee joining the team, someone from AIFF needs to be with the team all the time, but nobody was there. They never sent anyone. I asked my report to be sent to them, otherwise it’s just written words nobody witnessed. Obviously, they weren’t interested in coming and being with the team, help the team with their presence. What to say? So disappointing,” he added.

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

These are some rather surprising revelations from Stimac. Although the members of the AIFF technical committee are not tasked to be involved with how the senior team trains or plays on the pitch, the allegations from Stimac that nobody wanted to at least visit a few training sessions is really surprising.

IM Vijayan has been involved with the AIFF technical committee for the last few years. He has also shared a strong relationship with AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey, under whose leadership Vijayan get a chance to hold this important role in AIFF’s technical committee. He had a memorable international career with India, having scored 29 goals in 73 appearances. Neither Vijayan nor the AIFF have responded to the comments made by Stimac so far.

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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