New Delhi, Aug 15:
Indian football icon Bhaichung Bhutia on Friday questioned the AIFF’s decision to pull out of the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup to prioritise a high-profile friendly against Brazil, saying the reported Rs 50-70 crore expenditure on the marquee fixture was difficult to justify at a time when the country’s club football is grappling with a financial crisis.
India will face the record five-time world champions in a friendly slated in Kolkata on October 3, with the All India Football Federation choosing the invitational fixture over participation in the FIFA ASEAN Cup following a scheduling clash.
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In an exclusive interview with PTI here, Bhutia said he had no objection to Brazil coming to India for a “free friendly”, but argued that spending crores on the match at a time when clubs are struggling to survive was simply the “wrong priority”.
“If Brazil were coming free of cost to play a free friendly match, I have no problem with that. But to pay Brazil Rs 50-70 crore to come and play a friendly in India at this moment, the timing is not right. The timing is completely wrong,” Bhutia said.
He also took aim at AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey, accusing the federation leadership of “completely misguiding” the government and those around Indian football.
“Why do you want to pay Rs 50-70 crore at this moment when ISL clubs are shutting down, club after club, and I-League clubs are struggling to pay their entry fees?” he asked.
Bhutia’s criticism comes against the backdrop of a turbulent period for Indian club football.
The previous AIFF-FSDL commercial arrangement around the ISL ran into prolonged uncertainty after the Master Rights Agreement approached expiry, forcing the 2025-26 season to be delayed before it eventually began in a truncated format following the Sports Ministry’s intervention.
The crisis also saw Tata Steel exit Jamshedpur FC, as the club was transferred to Churchill Brothers for a symbolic Rs 100 on Friday.
Against this backdrop, Bhutia said the decision to sacrifice a FIFA-recognised competition for a single friendly was difficult to justify.
India had initially accepted FIFA’s invitation to participate in the new tournament and were subsequently drawn in Division 1 Group A alongside Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
The competition is scheduled to be played during the September 21-October 6 FIFA international window.
However, India’s commitment to play Brazil on October 3 at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium created a scheduling clash.
“We have such a wonderful tournament, a FIFA-recognised event that is most probably a calendar event every two to four years, and to miss all that just to play one friendly and pay Rs 50-70 crore — that is such bad timing,” he said.
“You have a federation struggling with money at the moment, and then the AIFF wants to pay an advance fee to Brazil from that amount. I think it is such a bad decision.”
The ‘Sikkimese Sniper’ believes the ASEAN Cup, which features strong regional sides such as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, offered India a more meaningful competitive environment.
“It is a FIFA-recognised tournament and has teams like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, who have beaten us in Asia and World Cup qualifiers,” he said.
“Brazil can always come. Argentina, Spain, France can always come and play in India when you are paying that kind of money. You can get any team to come and play, but at the moment I think the timing is wrong.”
Why not help EB instead?
For Bhutia, the issue is not simply the cost of one match but where Indian football should be directing its limited resources.
He pointed to reigning ISL champions East Bengal, who have qualified for the group stage of the AFC Champions League 2 with a thumping 4-1 win over Al-Arabi on Wednesday.
But they are also dealing with financial constraints after their title sponsors Emami pulled out last season.
“The honourable prime minister has been saying that we need to cut down on travelling abroad and a lot of things because of the economic situation. Rather than investing in grassroots…”
“East Bengal have qualified for the AFC Champions League 2 but they are struggling with money.
“Why not Kalyan request Bengal government to come and support East Bengal with Rs 10-20 crores so that they make a good team and go and perform in the Champions League.
“If they can play quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, we will have teams like Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr where Cristiano Ronaldo is playing in Saudi, and they would come and play automatically without paying anything.”
“That is why we need to look at long-term development. The timing of the Brazil match with India is completely wrong at the moment, and skipping the FIFA ASEAN Cup is just a bad, bad decision.”
Disaster after disaster
Bhutia was equally scathing in his assessment of the state of Indian football, pointing to the senior men’s team’s slide in the FIFA rankings to around 140.
“From being ranked in the top 100, we have gone to 140 and might get even worse,” he said. “But it has just been a disaster after disaster.”
However, Bhutia stopped short of putting the blame solely on Chaubey, instead pointing to what he described as a wider failure of leadership.
“You can’t blame him alone because we have people leading who have no passion, no interest and no knowledge about the game or how to take it forward,” he said.
“I think that’s what happens when you have leadership with no experience, no quality and no real idea of management and football. It is just bound to be a disaster.”
Bhutia said the damage would not be repaired overnight and that rebuilding Indian football would be a long-term challenge.
“I think that’s what Indian football has been going through over the last couple of years. It is going to take a long, long time to revive from here,” he said.
With elections due later this year, Bhutia hopes a new governing body can begin the process of rebuilding and restore India to the top 100.
“Hopefully, by the end of this year, once the elections happen and a new body comes in, they can really revive Indian football, get us back into the top 100 and see where it can go,” he said.
But he warned that the task would be enormous.
“It is going to be a big, big challenge at the moment because of the way it is mismanaged and destroyed,” Bhutia said.
Thumbs up to NZ tour
Bhutia did not oppose India playing high-quality international friendlies and welcomed the national team’s maiden tour of New Zealand, where it will play two matches on November 12 and 15.
The tour overlaps with the SAFF Championship, which runs from November 4 to 17, but Bhutia believes India can manage the clash of events by sending a younger side to the regional tournament.
“The New Zealand tour is a good tour for us. Looking at how New Zealand qualified for the World Cup and performed well, they had a very good side. It will be a great experience for a lot of our Indian players,” he said.
“The SAFF Cup obviously clashes, but you can always send an Under-23 team to the SAFF Cup. The FIFA ASEAN Cup, I think, is a big, big blow. The SAFF Cup is something where we can always send an Under-23 team.”
He sees the New Zealand trip as an opportunity to gain both experience and ranking points.
“The New Zealand tour is a wonderful opportunity for the Indian team to travel and get a few matches. If you can get good results, that will also help us with points and the rankings,” he signed off.