India’s football king Sunil Chhetri has finally broken his silence on FIFA’s threat of suspension on Indian football. The 40-year-old captain of the Indian football team has advised his fellow players not to pay too much attention to FIFA’s threat as they believe they have nothing in their hands. Earlier, the world football governing body had threatened AIFF over its right to host the Women’s Under-17 World Cup in October later this year. (FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar date changed because of this, all details here)
The reason for this was the “influence” of third parties. Interestingly, this warning comes just days after the Supreme Court ordered a stay on the election of AIFF. The SC then appointed a Committee of Administrators (COA) and started the electoral process. Now the elections are to be held on August 28. (AIFF Players of the Year Awards 2021-22: Sunil Chhetri, Manisha Kalyan, and more win – in pics)
Sunil Chhetri in a virtual press conference to a group of journalists said, “I have spoken to the boys and my advice is not to pay much attention to it as it is beyond our control.”
focused
Sunil Chhetri’s eyes are always on W. Yes, even in training. #vrebfc pic.twitter.com/qBBfyGFVBp— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) 14 August 2022
“The people who are involved are doing their best to make sure that we are going to come out with the best result. Everyone is working hard for it. As far as the players are concerned, We are going to make sure that we do our job properly. We have to make sure that you improve yourself as a player. Whenever you get an opportunity to represent your club or your country, do your part. Put the best foot forward. All the other verticals of AIFF are trying to fix this as much as possible to ensure that they come out with flying colours,” he added.
India is to host the FIFA Women’s Under-17 World Cup in Goa, Bhubaneswar and Mumbai from October 11 to 30.
Talking about Chhetri’s club football, Bengaluru FC is set to take on Jamshedpur FC on 16th August as the Durand Cup starts on 15th August. Bengaluru FC is a club with silverware and missing a Durand Cup trophy since its existence in 2013. from his cabinet. They will be eager to lay their hands on the trophy as Chhetri too considered the tournament “very, very special” for him.
“It’s very, very special. It’s one of the oldest tournaments that’s huge in itself. But more so for me. As a club we haven’t won and personally I haven’t won the Durand Cup I have been lucky enough to win a lot of tournaments, almost all tournaments that can be held in India, and the Durand Cup is missing,” said Chhetri for the Durand Cup.