The future of football seems to take a turn for the good with the appointment of a new president. The former player Kalyan Chaubey is appointed as the president of All India Football Federation. In its 85 year history, Chaubey is the first president who has also played for India previously. Forty Five old former goalkeepers with Mohun Bagan and East Bengal won against Baichung Bhutia with 33-1 for the post in Delhi.
Family of Kalyan Chaubey
Kalyan Chaubey was born on 16 December 1976 in Kolkata, West Bengal. He was married to ex-Mohun Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra’s daughter Mohini in 2004. His younger sister Bulbuli Panja is a Bengali TV Serial actor.
Later, Chaubey joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was nominated by BJP as party candidate from Krishnanagar (Lok Sabha constituency) in 2019 Lok Sabha election, when he came second to Mohua Moitra of TMC.
Early Career
Through the proper grass-root system, Kalyan Chaubey graduated from the Tata Football Academy in 1995. He was declared as "Indian Goalkeeper of the Year" in the years of 1997-98 and 2001-02. Kalyan was also a member of the Indian teams at U-17 Asian Youth Championship 1994 held in Iran and U-20 Asian Youth Championship 1996 in South Korea in 1996 for the senior Indian National team from 1999 to 2006.
Later, Kalyan was part of the Indian Team and won the SAFF Championship thrice. He represented five states Jharkhand, West Bengal, Goa, Punjab and Maharashtra for the National Championship (Santosh Trophy). He also showed his moves for Mohun Bagan AC, East Bengal FC, Salgaocar SC, Mahindra United, JCT Phagwara, and Mumbai FC as a goalkeeper. Also, he showed moves for Bengal Mumbai from 1999 to 2001.In 2002, he also played for the German club 2, Bundesliga side Karlsruher SC,and Verbandsliga Württemberg outfit VfR Heilbronn.
After his retirement, he entered into the showbiz business for a short span. He also took over as the CEO of Mohun Bagaan Academy from 2010 to 2013. Chaubey was also for the GOALZ Project-2012, an initiative for underprivileged children by Kolakata Police.
He is still enjoying political career with Bharatiya Janata Party, however he lost the Lok Sabha election from West Bengal in 2019.
Achievements
The AIFF president won two national honors, SAFF Championship (1999, 2005) and South Asian Games Bronze Medal (1999). Other than bringing laurels to the country he also won ‘Indian Goalkeeper of the Year’ title for 1997-98, 2001-02.
Vision of the new AIFF President
While addressing the press conference after the election Chaubey said he will not make "unrealizable promises".
"We will not come before you to sell dreams. We will not say that we have established so many academies and we will play in the World Cup in eight years," Chaubey said.
"In my life I have taken part in the inauguration of more than 100 academies and in all these academies it has been said that the kids will play in the World Cup in eight years. But in reality it does not happen like this," he said.
"We are not making any promise but we will say we will take Indian football forward from the current condition and how much we will go forward will be worked out. We are not going to sell dreams."
It is expected that with a new appointed president AIFF will have a lot on their plate, as the FIFA Women's U17 World Cup is on the list. The federation will now focus on revamping the season for a better comeback of Indian Football.
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