India have finally got the kind of opportunity their youth football system has been waiting for: a place at a FIFA World Cup. Yet, with the inaugural U-15 World Cup and Festival in Azerbaijan only months away, the biggest uncertainty around the team is not the players or the format, but who is actually going to run it.
After previously announcing his will to reject the offer, Minerva Academy owner Ranjit Bajaj is now willing to take up the India U-15 manager’s role, but only if he is given complete charge. Bibiano Fernandes, meanwhile, is understood to have reservations about accepting the head coach’s position amid differences over the structure of the support staff and the appointment of the manager. What should have been a decision over the best footballing structure for a historic tournament has instead turned into a Bajaj versus Bibiano narrative.
And that is the problem. It should never have become a Bajaj versus Bibiano situation in the first place.
The AIFF confirmed the appointments only a couple of days ago. Since then, the process has unravelled in public, with Bajaj saying he was not informed about his appointment beforehand and was not given a timely confirmation even after reports about it began appearing. Fernandes, too, is reportedly not convinced about the arrangement. Through all of this, the federation has remained silent.
The players, meanwhile, are losing valuable preparation time.
THE WORLD CUP CHANCE IS ALREADY HERE
Bajaj’s latest change of stance came after he learned that Fernandes had also declined the role, citing essentially the same concern over competing visions.
“I just got to know through a trusted source and an article in the newspaper that Bibiano has also said no, citing exactly the same reasons which I have said, because any good coach will say that, because he doesn’t want to sabotage his own team. That people with two visions and philosophies cannot actually be doing it together,” Bajaj said in a video posted on Instagram.
Bajaj has now made it clear that if Fernandes is not part of the setup, he is ready to take charge.
“It’s still not too late if Bibiano is not going to be there. So, if you think all this is drama, then find out what people say here that I sit here from morning to night, and only one thing: every decision in my life is based on one thing, that I make a decision on how this is going to help me get to the 2034 World Cup and 2036 Olympics,” Bajaj said.
He then made his position clear.
“I am prepared, I am ready. Giving up is not in the blood. In fact, if I get this, I am going to work even harder,” he added.
Bajaj’s argument is that his earlier objection was about the structure, not about working for India.
“I can never say no to my country. It was saying no to the fact that I don’t want to sabotage my own country. I want to help it. So, if that is the case, then Ranjit Bajaj will die but not say no to my country,” he said.
The opportunity is significant. The inaugural FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival will feature all 211 FIFA member associations and will be played in an eight-a-side format, with matches consisting of two 20-minute halves. Each team can register 14 players, including up to two goalkeepers.
For India, this is their first chance to participate in a FIFA World Cup at this level. It is also an unusual format, which makes the preparation even more important. A smaller playing area and fewer players can place a premium on combinations, decision-making and understanding between teammates.
That work needs to start now.
India need to scout the right players, assess combinations, bring the group together and establish a playing identity. The team also needs enough time under the eventual coaching structure to understand what is expected of them.
That cannot be rushed simply because the federation has taken longer than it should have to settle the people in charge.
Bajaj and Fernandes have different footballing ideas. Bajaj has spoken about his preference for a high-pressing, attacking style, while Fernandes’ approach is one built more around defending deep before launching quick counter-attacks.
There is nothing particularly unusual about coaches having different footballing philosophies. In fact, it can be healthy. But when two senior figures are being asked to shape the same youth team, the AIFF has to decide how those responsibilities fit together.
It cannot simply put two different visions into the same dressing room and hope that they somehow settle themselves.
WHY IS AIFF STILL SILENT?
This is where the communication from the AIFF has become difficult to understand.
Bajaj told India Today that he was not informed beforehand about his appointment. Even after reports about the decision began appearing in the media, he said he did not receive a timely confirmation from the federation and had to seek clarity himself.
That is a fairly extraordinary way for a major national-team appointment to unfold.
The sequence has also created unnecessary confusion. Bajaj was approved as manager by the AIFF Executive Committee following Fernandes’ appointment as head coach. But almost immediately, the arrangement became complicated, with Bajaj publicly expressing his unhappiness and Fernandes reportedly hesitant about accepting the role.
Bajaj had earlier volunteered to take charge of the team, with his condition being that he be given a free hand and allowed to appoint his own coaching staff. He also made a presentation to the AIFF technical committee with a long-term plan centred around India’s ambitions for the 2034 World Cup and 2036 Olympics.
He has previously volunteered to take charge of the project, with the condition that he be given a free hand and allowed to select his coaching staff. He has also presented a long-term plan to the AIFF’s technical committee built around the ambition of taking India towards the 2034 World Cup and 2036 Olympics.
Fernandes, meanwhile, brings his own experience of working with India’s youth teams, while the AIFF is also understood to have considered other options, including Minerva Academy technical director Surinder Singh, should Fernandes turn down the offer.
If Bajaj is ready to take the job only if he has sole charge, the AIFF needs to say whether it agrees. If Fernandes does not want to work under the proposed structure, the federation needs to clarify that too. If neither arrangement is acceptable, then another structure has to be found.
Instead, there has been nothing substantial from the federation.
And that silence matters because this is not an ordinary appointment. The inaugural U-15 World Cup and Festival is a historic event for India, and the players who will travel to Azerbaijan are likely to have very little experience of being part of a tournament of this scale.
The federation has shown that it can communicate when it wants to.
During the ISL turmoil, AIFF’s social media handles were repeatedly used for statements and updates, including posts about matters as routine as a graphic designer job vacancy. There was no shortage of communication when the federation felt the need to put its position out there.
So why not now?
Why leave Bajaj speaking publicly about an appointment he says he was not informed about properly? Why leave the status of Fernandes’ involvement to reports and sources? Why allow the entire issue to become a public Bajaj versus Bibiano debate when the actual question should be about the best structure for India’s U-15 team?
Most importantly, why lose days when the team needs those?
Indian football fans have seen this entire game before. India reach the tournament somehow at the last minute with a brand new coaching staff, and ultimately waits for the time to put out a statement that the AIFF treats such youth tournaments as long-term experiments where results are secondary.
That is understandable to an extent. Development is the bigger objective.
But development also requires proper preparation.
Players need to be scouted. A group needs to be assembled. Coaches need to understand the players. Players need to understand each other. Training sessions need to establish patterns. The team needs to know how it wants to press, defend, build and attack.
Even in an eight-a-side format, those things do not happen automatically.
The longer the AIFF waits, the more preparation time gets swallowed by an administrative problem.
And none of this is really about choosing a winner between Bajaj and Bibiano.
Fernandes has his own record with India’s youth teams. Bajaj has built Minerva Academy into one of the country’s better-known youth football programmes and has been one of the loudest voices pushing for a stronger pathway towards India’s long-term World Cup ambitions. Both bring different experiences and ideas.
That is precisely why the AIFF needs to decide what it wants from the team.
If it believes Fernandes is the right head coach, give him a structure in which he can work properly. If it believes Bajaj should run the project, give him the authority he has asked for. If it believes another combination is better, make that call.
But make it.
India have finally got a chance to play at a FIFA World Cup. The AIFF now needs to decide who gets to build that team.
The World Cup will not wait for the federation to sort out its internal disagreements.
The players should not have to pay the price for them.
– Ends
