AIFF ousts secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran over conflict

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Wednesday announced that it has sacked secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran due to “breach of trust”.
Prabhakaran’s sacking comes 14 months after his appointment to the high-profile job even as the national federation did not mention what the breach of trust was that prompted the action.
“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 statement read.
“The AIFF Deputy Secretary, Mr M Satyanarayan, will take charge as Acting Secretary General of AIFF with immediate effect,” the statement added. AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey served the termination letter on Tuesday to Prabhakaran, who was appointed on September 3 in 2022 and took charge on September 6.
Prabhakaran has not yet reacted to the development but is expected to give his version soon.
AIFF vice-president NA Haris told that even the AIFF executive committee members were not happy with the way Prabhakaran worked. In a cryptic post on X on Monday night, Prabhakaran had hinted that all was not well within the AIFF.
“We have to remain true to our game and when we have the position of power and influence then our responsibility is far higher to do our work with sincerity and dedication without any personal interests,” he had written on his X page.
“Never allow personal interests to dominate the mind and decisions. Let’s focus on our mission to transform football and make India proud. There can’t be a bigger satisfaction in life than to see India shining on the pitch on a bigger stage,” he wrote. Prabhakaran was appointed at the first executive Committee meeting of the new dispensation which took charge after the elections on September 2.
He was earlier serving as Football Delhi president. He resigned from that post and took charge as AIFF secretary general on September 6, 2022. A meeting of the executive committee has been called here on Thursday and the members are expected to be officially apprised of the development, besides discussing other matters.
Haris said there is no need for the AIFF executive committee to ratify the decision of the president.
“The post of the secretary general is a paid post and he was not appointed by the executive committee. The president has the power to appoint and remove the secretary general. So, the president issued the termination letter,” said Haris.