Bhaichung Bhutia has said that he hopes to become the next All India Football Federation president, adding that Indian football needs reform.
Bhutia had filed a fresh nomination for the post a few days back and it was proposed by the Andhra Football Association (AFA) and supported by the Rajasthan FA.
Speaking to India Today, the former captain of the Indian football team said that he is very hopeful to win the election as the need of the hour is to improve Indian football.
“There is a lot of hope, this is a huge opportunity for me. We need to improve Indian football. We need to change everything. I am Baichung Bhutia only for football. And I use this opportunity to develop football. And I want to serve India football, Bhutia said.
Bhutia also said that sports will suffer when you link it with politics and added that he has no political tag.
“Every sport suffers when there is politics. If you mix politics with sports, it will spoil it. I have no political tag. I can work in any state with any union, It will be easy for me. If the political tag is there, stay there. It will be a problem. So, we should not politicize the entire election,” Bhutia said.
When asked about West Bengal not filing his nomination, the former India captain said that he is not saddened by it and also said that Kalyan Choubey is a good candidate. Bhutia said he hoped that Choubey was not misled by any state association.
“My plan was from where I was supposed to file nominations. I don’t think I should just file nominations from Bengal. I am not sad. Kalyan Choubey is a good candidate. But he didn’t play for India during my time. Me. Hope Kalyan is not misled by any state association. That is my only concern. But whatever happens, we just want to keep Indian football going in good shape. That should be our main goal,” Bhutia said. Bhutia said.
On his goals of being elected as the new president of AIFF, Bhutia said that the aim would be to produce quality players and help the state associations with money.
“We need to produce quality players. All players come from different states. We need to help state associations with money. Let’s make sure everyone plays and good coaches are also produced. There is a need for more quality players. Players will play for the World Cup and the Asia Cup. There is a need for long-term investment in players,” Bhutia said.
The former captain also said that he wants to live out his World Cup dream by ensuring that India qualify for the tournament.
“I wanted to play the World Cup as a player for my country. Of course, now if I am the president of AIFF, I will try to make sure that India plays in the World Cup. I will go through it with my dreams. But it is difficult and we need to work more on it. It requires good and long term planning. It is not impossible thing.”
On the possibility of becoming the coach of the Indian team, Bhutia said that he only wants to be part of the administration. The former India captain also said that players can be good administrators and cited the example of Sourav Ganguly as the BCCI president.
“I don’t want to be a coach first. I want to be in administration. Many players have many options after retirement. Nowadays, players want to be in management. I knew Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh and the people who worked for it. playing for. The country wanted to be in management. Players should also be given a chance. Everyone says players cannot do well in management. But it is wrong. Look at Sourav Ganguly. He has given us an example that The players can run the management very well,” Bhutia said.
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