Shaji Prabhakaran sacked as AIFF Secretary General

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Wednesday removed Shaji Prabhakaran from the post of AIFF Secretary General.

Shaji Prabhakaran has reportedly been removed from the post of AIFF Secretary General. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT/ The Hindu

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) was hurled into crisis after its top-brass decided to sack its secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran citing ‘breach of trust’. The decision appeared to be the culmination of months of disagreement happening within the AIFF executive committee over several issues related to the sports finances and administration.

According to sources, the AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey relieved Prabhakaran of his duties after consulting the executive committee members late on Tuesday.

“The All India Football Federation hereby announces that the services of Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran have been terminated due to breach of trust with immediate effect as of November 7, 2023,” the AIFF announced in a brief release to the media. The decision is set to be ratified by the AIFF executive committee which meets at Delhi on Thursday.

The AIFF Deputy Secretary, M. Satyanarayan, has been asked to take charge as acting secretary general till a replacement is decided for the post.

According to sources inside the AIFF, Prabhakaran earned the displeasure of the president and executive committee members owing to some arbitrary decisions and actions. Prabhakaran was one of the key associates of Chaubey who swept to power in September 2022, replacing the committee of Praful Patel, who ruled the Federation for 13 years.

Under the leadership of Chaubey and Prabhakaran, the new regime took a number of decisions to reform the functioning of the AIFF and announced a strategic roadmap named “Vision 2047” in January this year.

The senior national men’s team made it to the top-100 in the FIFA rankings for the first time since 2018 as the AIFF sought to achieve more targets under its “Vision” plan.

Recently, Prabhakaran faced simmering discontentment within the executive committee and questions were raised regarding his high compensation and some financial decisions.

The misgivings reached such a pass that the AIFF president appointed a core committee to oversee the activities of Prabhakaran in key areas of decision making, as part of the Federation.