Recently, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has garnered a lot of negative attention for what is now embarrassing blunder of allegedly advertising an application from Xavi Hernandez, only to later retract that and then claim that may have been a teenage prank. Within sources close to both Xavi and AIFF, they now indicate that the spaniard never applied for the Indian national team coaching position, which then raises many difficult questions regarding the internal due diligence process within the AIFF.
AIFF’s Subrata Paul, who is the director of the national team, confirmed that Xavi’s name had appeared on the list of applicants, and that the email was sent to the technical committee. However, sources within Europe are stating that they have had no communication or interest from Xavi’s camp. The discrepancies suggest the federation either recycled or potentially weaponised the Xavi narrative to gather further perceived interest in the role at the global level.
International Media on AIFF
‼️Sources close to Xavi completely deny that he offered himself to manage the Indian national team. ❌
They claim the Indian federation used his name to try and appeal to better candidates.
— @sport pic.twitter.com/qhNgG908CY
— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) July 25, 2025
To further implicate this public perception, a viral video showed a 19-year-old prankster who created a fake Gmail id (xaviofficialfcb@gmail.com) to impersonate Xavi and supposedly emailed the AIFF an application. Although there is no comment from the AIFF, the reaction of the officials to the prank seemed genuinely surprised, and the prankster is said to have even taken note of the email sent, which arguably shows that the AIFF was duped through a few clicks of a mouse rather than through institutional oversight, and if it is indeed true this provokes significant concerns of procedural incompetence on the verge of negligence. National federations usually get applications from coaches all over the world; here, however, an application from a boy pretending to be a superstar supposedly got on the shortlist and made the news headlines before evidently being thrown aside when the AIFF told them that it backed out of hiring him “due to costs.”
🚨❌ Despite recent reports, zero talks took place between Xavi Hernández and Indian Federation. 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Ae5boa0FKP
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 26, 2025
Football journalist Fabrizio Romano confirmed on social media: “There are zero talks between Xavi Hernández and Indian Federation.” Spanish reporter Ferran Correas claimed that sources indicated the AIFF took advntage of Xavi’s name to give weight to the advertised job post in order to attract better-caliber candidates.
This incident is not simply a PR blunder, it is a warning about the dangers of hype trumping substance. In seeking legitimacy and to be on the global radar, AIFF seems to have compromised its validation. Whether this is ambition or a brain lapse, the federation’s behaviour warrants immediate reflection and adherence to stricter credentialing standards.
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