Indian women’s team’s disastrous campaign, where the team conceded 16 goals in AFC Asian Cup, and the likely extension of Amelia Valverde’s contract has irked few executive committee members of All India Football Federation (AIFF).
AIFF technical committee led by IM Vijayan, including Shabbir Ali, Climax Lawrence and few others, are supposed to meet and extend Valverde’s contract on Tuesday despite shocking results.
India lost all of their league matches – 1-2 against Vietnam, 1-3 against Chinese Taipei and were thrashed 0-11against eventual champions Japan.
Valanka Alemao, who is also chairperson of AIFF Women’s Football Committee, has called for a full inquiry into the way the team’s shambolic preparations were handled. Highlighting a series of goof ups, Valanka has asked a few questions and requested AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey to convene an executive committee meeting to discuss the debacle and fix accountability.
“…Who decided to appoint Amelia Valverde of Costa Rica as the head coach along with her two assistants in January 2026 by side-lining Crispin Chhetri just six weeks before the tournament? What was the procedure that was followed for her appointment?” Valanka said in his letter to Chaubey on Tuesday.
“The technical committee cleared the appointments without calling for any list of prospective candidates to be prepared or advertised as it happened while choosing the coach for the Women’s team without any knowledge of the executive committee. Where was the need to bring in someone so close to the tournament and what was the cost of payments to all the three?” she added.
While another told The Tribune on Monday that, he has already spoken to people on the technical committee not to extend Valverde’s contract. “We should have sought her resignation after the results rather than thinking about extending her contract. Who in their right frame of mind thinks of an extension after a team concedes 16 goals,” he said angrily.
Indian team’s preparations ahead of AFC Asian Cup in Australia were hit after an ill-fitting kit was supplied to them and AIFF had to scramble a fresh set from Australia. Practice matches against lesser teams, change of coach a month before the tournament has all been highlighted by Valanka in her letter to the AIFF president.
“Who decided to arrange friendly matches with totally sub-standard opposition abroad? The team played only three friendly Internationals, one against Iran and two against Nepal. More importantly, the team was made to play against mediocre club sides, which got them no benefit. Who decided to send the team to Turkey instead of China, as was originally planned? Valanka said questioning the scheduling of the practice matches.
“These questions must be raised and those who are responsible for such blunders which have brought shame to the nation must be taken to task. Most importantly, our Under-17 and Under-20 have also qualified for their respective Asian tournaments. We must ensure that the young girls will not have to endure all that the senior team members had to,” she said.
AIFF women’s head seeks probe into team’s debacle, opposes coach Amelia Valverde’s extension
