Kalyan Chaubey

Indian footballer and politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kalyan Chaubey (born 16 December 1976) is an Indian politician of Bharatiya Janata Party[1] and a former professional football goalkeeper.[2] He is the current president of the All India Football Federation.[3]

Date of birth (1976-12-16) 16 December 1976 (age 49)
Place of birth Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position Goalkeeper
Quick facts Personal information, Date of birth ...
Kalyan Chaubey
Personal information
Date of birth (1976-12-16) 16 December 1976 (age 49)
Place of birth Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position Goalkeeper
Youth career
Tata Football Academy
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1997 Mohun Bagan 27
1997–1999 East Bengal 67
1999–2000 Mohun Bagan
2000–2001 Bengal Mumbai 17
2001–2003 Salagaocar 53
2003–2005 Mahindra United
2005–2007 JCT
2007–2009 Mumbai FC
2009–2010 Salagaocar
11th President of All India Football Federation
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 September 2022
Preceded byPraful Patel
Personal details
PartyBharatiya Janata Party
* Club domestic league appearances and goals
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Football career

Playing career

Chaubey graduated from Tata Football Academy in 1995.[4] He played as a goalkeeper and won the award – "Indian Goalkeeper of the Year" – in 1997–98[5] and 2001–02. He was member of the Indian teams at U-17 Asian Youth Championship 1994 in Iran and U-20 Asian Youth Championship 1996 in South Korea in 1996, the India national team from 1999 to 2006.[6]

He was part of the Indian team that won the SAFF Championship twice. He played the National Championship (Santosh Trophy) for five different states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Goa, Punjab and Maharashtra. He played for Mohun Bagan AC, East Bengal FC,[5] Salgaocar SC, Mahindra United, JCT Phagwara, and Mumbai FC as a goalkeeper.[7][8] He had a short loan spell at Bangladesh Muktiyodha, Dhaka. [citation needed] He also played for East Bengal and Mohun Bagan from 1996 to 2000.[9][10] In 2002, he trialled for the German club 2. Bundesliga side Karlsruher SC,[11] and Verbandsliga Württemberg outfit VfR Heilbronn.[11]

Post football career

After his retirement as a footballer, he had a brief modelling career. He also worked as a sports commentator and analyst for Sony, Ten TV and Start Sports Network for tournaments like Calcutta Football League and the Indian Super League.[12] He was the CEO of Mohun Bagan academy from 2010 to 2013. He was also a co-ordinator for the GOALZ Project 2012, developed by Kolkata Police and British Council, to support underprivileged children.

Sports administrative career

AIFF President and IOA Joint Secretary

On 2 September 2022, Chaubey was elected as the President of the All India Football Federation after his 33–1 victory over former India international footballer Bhaichung Bhutia.[13][14][15] On 28 November 2022, he was elected unopposed as the join secretary of the Indian Olympic Association.[16] He is also functioning as the acting CEO of the IOA till the appointment of the post.[17]

Allegations of bribery

On 2 March 2024, AIFF principal legal advisor alleged misuses of federation funds by Kalyan Chaubey and allotment of broadcasting tenders for various AIFF competitions to a company close to the president, these allegations were denied by Chaubey.[18] Few days later, The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) asked the former legal head to submit evidence and sought full case files from the AIFF.[19] On 9 July 2024, one day before the Maniktala bypoll elections, Kunal Ghosh, a Trinamool Congress leader released an audio recording alleging that BJP candidate Kalyan Chaubey offered him a post in football administration in return for his help to win the election.[20] Chaubey denied the allegations stating it was a courtesy call and the recording was edited.[21]

Administrative performance timeline

More information Date, Statement/Action ...
Date Statement/Action Plan Result Ref.
8 September 2022 Expansion of women's football
  • introduce age-group league
  • introduce a minimum salary cap in the IWL
  • No age-group league for women's football initiated
 [22]
11 September 2022 MoU with Qatar FA
  • strategic alliance for the mutual benefit of football
  • None
 [23]
6 October 2022 MoU with Saudi FA
  • provision of technological support
  • organization and hosting of youth competitions for both men and women on a regular basis
  • exchange of football and governance experts
 [24]
5 December 2022 2027 AFC Asian Cup host bid withdrawal
  • AIFF decided to withdraw their bid in order to build the foundations of proper footballing structure instead of hosting of big events as hosting requires big resources
 [25]
3 July 2023 Restore Federation Cup
  • to revive and restore Federation Cup as the premier cup competition from the 2023–24 season
  • Not held, plan abandoned
 [26]
31 August 2023 Institutional League
  • starting the Institutional League as a competition for the institutional teams
  • Did not come to fruition
 [27]
September 2023 Hero MotoCorp title sponsorship of Indian football national tiers
  • continuation of title sponsorship of Indian men's and women's league and cup competitions
  • Failed to reach agreement with the organisation regarding sponsorship, leading to the end of Hero MotoCorp's association with Indian football, Indian national tiers organised without title sponsors since the 2023–24 season
 [28]
30 October 2023 MoU with CAFA
  • participation of Indian national teams across all age groups in both men's and women's competitions on an invitational basis
  • mutual benefits in all areas of football, with a specific focus on youth football, women's football, coach education, and refereeing
  • India NT participated in the 2025 CAFA Nations Cup
  • Age group men's or women's teams and senior women's team are yet to participate in CAFA tournaments
 [29]
15 November 2023 AIFF FIFA Academy
  • set up the AIFF-FIFA Talent Academy under the FIFA Talent Development Scheme
 [30]
6 January 2024 Introducing Additional Video Review System (AVRS)
  • participating in the trial of AVRS instead of looking for possibilities for VAR
  • Not implemented
 [31]
29 February 2024 U20 Men's National Championships
  • starting the National Championships for the U20 men's age group
  • started from the 2023–24 season
 [32]
22 March 2024 TW3 age test in national youth competitions
  • Application of TW3 age test across U13 and U15 competitions at the national level youth leagues
  • initiated in Junior Youth League and Sub-Junior Youth League from the 2024–25 season
 [33]
10 September 2024 Reintroduce India U20 team in I-League [34]
2 December 2024 Commercial rights of premier AIFF competitions
  • signed commercial rights agreement for I-League, I-League 2, IWL, Santosh Trophy and Rajmata Jijabai Trophy with Shrachi Sports
  • the broadcasting of the competitions to be streamed on SSEN app
  • broadcasting of 80% of I-League matches also awarded to Sony
 [35]
11 July 2025 Roadmap of Indian Women's Football post India's 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
  • holding the 2025–26 Indian Women's League from September 2025 to January 2026
  • participation of India U20 in the IWL
  • India WNT to undergo 83 days of preparation camps, conducted in three phases
  • India WNT to play 10-12 international friendlies and 5-7 matches with domestic teams
  • each player is projected to play at least 30 matches between August and February, combining both club and international commitments
  • 2025–26 Rajmata Jijabai Trophy to be held after the continental tournament for uninterrupted WNT preparation
  • unable to host 2025–26 Indian Women's League as per roadmap, IWL started much later from 20 December 2025 with only one phase
  • India U20 were promoted from IWL 2, but later were included in the IWL
  • camps held only during the October and November FIFA windows
  • India WNT have only played 2 FIFA and 1 exhibition friendlies in the October window and no matches were organised in the November window
  • only certain players have played international friendlies and AFC club games, while league only started from December 2025
  • 2025–26 Rajmata Jijabai Trophy was held before continental tournament contrary to the roadmap
 [36]
November/December 2025 Indian Super League tender
  • to monetise commercial rights of ISL
  • did not attract any bids, men's top tier season yet to start
 [37]
December 2025 I-League, I-League 2, I-League 3 tender
  • to monetise commercial rights of I-League tiers
  • did not attract any bids, men's lower tiers season yet to start
 [37]
December 2025 IWL, IWL 2 tender
  • to monetise commercial rights of IWL tiers
  • only one bid received, but AIFF failed to reach agreement with the bidder, women's top tier started without title sponsor
 [37]
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Political career

In 2015, he turned to politics and joined the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). He was nominated by the BJP as its candidate for the Krishnanagar (Lok Sabha constituency) in the 2019 Indian general election but lost to Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).[12][38][39] In 2021, he contested as a BJP candidate for the Maniktala constituency in the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election where he lost to Sadhan Pandey of the TMC.[40] In 2024, he again contested from the same constituency in the bypolls after the death of Pandey. However, he lost by a huge margin to the widowed wife, Supti Pandey, who polled nearly 4 times the votes of Chaubey.[41]

Personal life

Kalyan Chaubey is the son-in-law of former longtime Mohan Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra.[42]

Honours

India

Individual

  • Indian Goalkeeper of the Year: 1997–98, 2001–02

References

External links

Further reading

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