Who is Kalyan Chaubey? All you need to know about the new AIFF president

Kalyan Chaubey was appointed the new All India Football Federation (AIFF) president on Friday after 33-1 win over the legendary Bhaichung Bhutia in the election for the top post

With the win, Chaubey became the first player-president of AIFF in its 85-year history.

The 45-year-old Chaubey is a former goalkeeper with Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. He never played for the India senior team though he was in the squad on few occasions. He, however, played for India in age-group international tournaments. He was also a former goalkeeper at both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.

In fact, Bhutia and Chaubey were one-time teammates at East Bengal.

Sporting career

Chaubey graduated from Tata Football Academy in 1995 and became a professional football player through a proper grass-root system. He played as a goalkeeper and won the award — Indian Goalkeeper of the Year"—in 1997–98 and 2001–02.

The new AIFF boss was a 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 senior Indian national team from 1999 to 2006.[2]

The goalie was part of the Indian team that won the SAFF Championship thrice. He played the National Championship (Santosh Trophy) for five different states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Goa, Punjab and Maharashtra.

Coming to the teams, he represnedted Mohun Bagan AC, East Bengal FC, Salgaocar SC, Mahindra United, JCT Phagwara, and Mumbai FC as a goalkeeper. He had a short loan spell at Bangladesh Muktiyodha, Dhaka. He also played for Bengal Mumbai from 1999 to 2001.[3][4]. In 2002, he trialled for the German club 2. Bundesliga side Karlsruher SC,[5] and Verbandsliga Württemberg outfit VfR Heilbronn.[5]

After his retirement, he had a brief modelling career. He then took over as the CEO of Mohun Bagan Academy from 2010 to 2013. He was also a co-ordinator for the GOALZ Project- 2012, which was developed by Kolkata Police and British Council for underprivileged children.

Political career

In 2015, he turned to politics and joined BJP. Chaubey lost the last parliamentary election for the Krishnanagar seat in West Bengal in 2019.