Kalyan Chaubey defeats Baichung Bhutia, becomes first player-president of AIFF

He had joined the BJP in 2015.

Kalyan Chaubey, former goalkeeper who played with both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan and later BJP politician, became president of All India Football Federation (AIFF) on September 2. He became the first player of the federation – in its 85-year-old history – to become a president. The 45-year-old defeated Baichung Bhutia by 33-1 votes.

Chaubey was a member of the Indian teams at U-17 Asian Youth Championship in 1994 in Iran and U-20 Asian Youth Championship 1996 in South Korea, and was in the senior national team from 1999 to 2006. He played for five Indian states including Bengal, Goa and Maharashtra. Apart from East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, he also played for Salgaoncar, Mahindra United, Mumbai FC as goalkeeper. He took over as the CEO of Mohun Bagan Academy from 2010 to 2013. He joined the BJP in 2015 and contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 but lost.

Comments are closed.