Did astrology play any role in the recent success of the Indian national football team in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers? Well, it looks like the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has made an effort to get the stars to match.
The fact that the AIFF spent Rs 16 lakh to an astrology agency it hired to “motivate” the national team, which confirmed its place in the 24-team AFC Asian Cup Finals.
The team led by Sunil Chhteri topped the Group to qualify.
“A motivator was appointed to the National team on the eve of the Asian Cup. It was then understood that the company that joined, was an astrology company,” one of the team said. PTI.
“In a word, an astrologer has been appointed to promote the research team. A huge sum of Rs 16 lakh has been made,” the source claimed.
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The astrology company seems to have held three meetings with the Blue Tigers but one player in Kolkata said: “At least I haven’t heard of this since I joined the team late.” Sunando Dhar, AIFF acting secretary general, was not available for comment.
Former India goalkeeper, Tanumoy Bose, scoffed at the idea and hurled stones at the AIFF for being made fun of.
“At a time when the AIFF has repeatedly failed to conduct proper youth leagues and many prestigious leagues have been forced to close, incidents like these will further tarnish the image of football,” Bose said. India”. PTI.
He added that it was just a “smoke screen” as AIFF officials were quite likely to use the money to fund their upcoming trips abroad.
“The CoA (running the program at AIFF following the suspension of president Praful Patel) has to dig into this horrific incident and find out who is all responsible behind it. There are so many scams out there. waiting to see the light of day,” he added.
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Last month, the Supreme Court appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) to manage AIFF affairs, ending Praful Patel’s long stint at the helm.
Black magic is not new to Indian football. A Delhi-based club once set foot in Meerut-based ‘Baba’ for an important match of the tournament and after their victory the team credited his success.
The team led by Sunil Chhetri made their best mark ever in the Asian Cup campaign as the brilliant striker took the lead with four goals in three matches to send the national team through to the Finals.
India started the ITS campaign with a 2-0 win over Cambodia and then a 2-1 win over Afghanistan before beating Hong Kong 4-0 to qualify for the top of the group.
