India’s Times of India media reported that the Football Association of India (AIFF) hired a Shaman to qualify for the Blue Tigers, India’s nickname. Apparently, AIFF spent up to 16 lakh or around Rp. 328 million, as quoted on the okezone.com page.
“(AIFF) has hired a [ahli nujum] to support the Indian national team in the Asian Cup qualifiers. It was later discovered that the support team that was brought in were astrologers,” an insider of the team was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
India performed very well in Group D. In the group with Hong Kong, Cambodia and Afghanistan, India managed to wipe out three games with one win.
India also qualified as one of the six group winners. In contrast, the Indonesian national team qualified as one of the top five finalists.
Meanwhile, the Indian player, who did not want to be named, admitted he had never heard of this shaman. Because it was too late to join the Blue Tigers.
“At least I never heard of it because I also joined the Indian national team late,” said the Indian player.
The news of this shaman hire was also commented on by former Indian guardian, Tanumoy Bose. He gave a scathing review of this news as it further tarnished the name of the AIFF.
“At a time when the AIFF has repeatedly failed to organize a proper youth league and many prestigious tournaments have been forced to fail, incidents like this have further tarnished the image of Indian football,” Bose said.
The news of the shaman’s location is not yet known. Indeed, AIFF General Secretary Sunando Dhar was yet to comment when contacted by The Times of India. (***)
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