Student Claims Responsibility For Fake Xavi Application For India Head Coach Role
A 19-year-old student has claimed that he was behind the prank played on the AIFF, as he revealed that he sent an email to the governing body posing as the legendary midfielder.
A 19-year-old student from VIT Vellore has claimed that he was behind the 'prank' played on the All-Indian Football Federation, as the governing body received an application for the job of the head coach of the national team from legendary Spanish midfielder Xavi.
The student reportedly revealed to The Telegraph Online that he created a fake email id 'xaviofficialfcb@gmail.com' and requested a prompt from ChatGPT to write an email expressing interest in the vacant head coach role of the Indian football team.
It wasn't Xavi who applied to coach India. It was a 19-year-old who used a fake email ID. I spoke to him and he showed me a screen recording from his Sent folder. Yes, this might've been the email AIFF thought came from Xavi.Indian football deserves better. #IndianFootball #Xavi pic.twitter.com/MVJu6w4l1L — Naman Suri (@Namansuri03) July 25, 2025
AIFF had stated that they had received an application from Xavi, but the economic feasibility of hiring the Barcelona legend was beyond a realistic proposition.
A day after reports emerged that former Spanish midfielder Xavi had expressed interest in the vacant position as head coach of the Indian national football team, sources close to the World Cup winner revealed that the AIFF had misused his name to enhance the job's profile.
Sources associated with the Barcelona legend asserted that Xavi never applied for the role and suggested that the AIFF used his name to generate more interest in the vacancy.
The AIFF later admitted that the job applications from Spaniards Xavi and Pep Guardiola for the position of head coach for the Indian men's football team were not genuine.
Xavi made the switch to coaching after retiring from a highly successful professional playing career, during which he won every major trophy, including the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro twice, and numerous individual awards. He initially served as head coach at Al Sadd before taking over at Barcelona four years ago, where he guided the Blaugrana to the La Liga title in his first season as head coach of his childhood club.
Several prominent figures such as Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler, Stephen Constantine, Steve Kean, Khalid Jamil, Kibu Vicuna, and Eelco Schattorie have shown interest in leading the Blue Tigers.
view comments
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
15 minutes ago
- NDTV
Murali Sreeshankar Wins Long Jump Title In Kazakhstan
Star long jumper Murali Sreeshankar clinched his third straight title after coming back from a long injury lay-off as he won the event at the Qosanov Memorial Athletics Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday. The 26-year-old Indian produced a winning leap of 7.94m on his opening attempt to secure the top spot at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze label (category C) meet. His other efforts were 7.73m, 7.58m, 7.57m, 7.80m and 7.79m. He has a personal best of 8.41m. This was Sreeshankar's third competition since returning from a knee injury, which he suffered in April last year. He had undergone surgery and consequently missed the 2024 Olympics despite qualifying for the global showpiece in the French capital. Sreeshankar won the Indian Open in Pune with a jump of 8.05m jump in his first comeback competition and followed it up with a 7.75m effort to top the podium at the Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto in Portugal. Before injury, Sreeshankar's last international appearance was a silver-medal finish at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2023. He is yet to qualify for the Tokyo World Championships in September, for which the men's long jump qualification standard is 8.27m.
Indian Express
15 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Ferrari's Leclerc stuns the McLarens to take pole for F1's Hungarian Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc snatched a surprise first pole position of the year for Ferrari at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday, beating both McLarens. Leclerc punched the air in delight as he climbed out of the car after beating Oscar Piastri by 0.026 of a second and the other McLaren of Lando Norris by .041. Leclerc had consistently been the best of the rest behind the McLarens in practice but remained well off Piastri and Norris' pace. That changed in qualifying, with the help of conditions which gradually got gloomier and windier, working against the McLarens. Norris and Piastri were each about half a second slower per lap in the final part of qualifying, compared to the second segment. Still, pole came as a shock at a circuit which Leclerc had called 'by far the worst track of the season for me' on Thursday. 'What?' Leclerc exclaimed over the radio when he was told he'd qualified first. 'Honestly, I have no words. It's probably one of the best pole positions I've ever had because it's the most unexpected,' Leclerc added later. Pole position is usually a big advantage in Hungary, where overtaking is difficult, but Norris noted the chance that rain could spring some surprises for Sunday's race. 'I have no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I will do absolutely everything in order to keep that first place,' said Leclerc, who's on pole for the 27th time in F1 but doesn't have the best record converting those starts into wins. He'll be seeking his ninth F1 victory Sunday. It was a stark contrast with yet another frustrating day for Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari. Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix a record eight times but qualified 12th as the seven-time champion's troubles in his first season with Ferrari continued. 'Every time, every time,' Hamilton told the team over the radio after he qualified outside the top 10 for the second straight race. That came after Ferrari's executive chairman John Elkann called it 'a rough season' in comments Saturday on the F1 website, and defended Ferrari's trust in team principal Fred Vasseur, whose contract extension was announced Thursday. Ferrari hasn't won a Grand Prix since Carlos Sainz, Jr.'s victory in Mexico in October, when the Spanish driver — now at Williams — also had the Italian team's last pole. Defending champion Max Verstappen was only eighth after struggling with the balance of his Red Bull, and his teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 16th. That piles more pressure on the Japanese driver, who hasn't scored a point in six races.
NDTV
15 minutes ago
- NDTV
5th Test, Day 3: Mohammed Siraj Strikes At Stroke Of Stumps, England 1 Down In Chase Of 374 vs India
Yashasvi Jaiswal enhanced his reputation as an all-conditions opener with a gutsy hundred on a tough pitch before Washington Sundar's whirlwind fifty allowed India to set a record 374-run target for England on an absorbing day three of the final Test at The Oval, London on Saturday. Jaiswal (118 off 164) rode his luck to complete his sixth Test hundred while the other significant contributions came from nightwatchman Akash Deep (66 off 94), Washington (53 off 46) and Ravindra Jadeja (53 off 77), who has been phenomenally consistent with the bat this series. The highest successful chase is 263 at The Oval but with the way England approach their game, one would not bet against the hosts just yet, having made short work of a 378 run target against India at Edgbaston three years ago and more recently the 371 they gunned down in the series opener at Leeds. At stumps, England were 50 for one loss in 13.5 overs with Mohammed Siraj castling Zak Crawley with a yorker at the stroke of stumps. The pitch did not look as green as it did on the first two days but still had enough for the fast bowlers. Akash Deep got a couple of balls to jump off length in the last hour of play. India were all out for 396 in the second innings courtesy the fireworks from Washginton Sundar displayed exemplary six hitting skills against Gus Atkinson and Josh tongue. Having a scored his maiden Test hundred last week, Washington looked supremely confident as he put the opposition pacers to sword to swell India's lead. He reached his half-century by disdainfully Atkinson into the cow corner region. In the afternoon session, a gritty century from Jaiswal helped India extend their lead to 281 runs at tea. India lost three wickets in the session but more importantly reached 304 for six at the break. England continued to drop catches, taking their innings tally to six. Jaiswal (118 off 164), who was dropped twice on Friday, was given another life on day three. Fair to say, he made the most of the lifelines offered to him for his second hundred of the series. Shubman Gill (11 off 9) produced two sublime fours before falling to the incoming ball once again with Gus Atkinson removing the Indian captain first ball after lunch. With that, Gill ended the series with a staggering 754 runs, just 20 shy of Sunil Gavaskar's all time record by an Indian. Jaiswal, who got rich rewards for playing the cut shot, was eventually caught in third man region. Karun Nair was caught behind off Atkinson with the extra bounce surprising him. Earlier, nightwatchman Akash Deep smashed his way to a maiden half-century, frustrating a lacklustre England and putting India in a strong position at lunch. Resuming the day at 75 for two, India did exceedingly well to reach 189 for three at the break with Jaiswal and Akash Deep sharing a 107-run stand off 150 balls. The India pacer, who was on four overnight, was eventually dismissed by Jamie Overton towards the end of the session via a short ball he could not control, giving an easy catch to Gus Atkinson at point. A bowler short, England could not control the run flow against Akash Deep who slashed his bat plenty of times in the session and got away with it. A fourth catch of the innings was dropped when Zak Crawley dropped a regulation catch of Akash Deep at third slip off Josh Tongue. The surface also played a lot better than the first two days with the ball not seaming around that much. There plenty of edges down the third man region but did not result in wickets. Akash Deep, who had just one first class fifty to his name prior to this game, made his intentions clear in the first over of the day bowled by left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell. The Indian cleared his leg and dispatched Bethell over mid-wicket for a boundary. Akash Deep did not hold against the fast bowlers as well, especially Atkinson. He got to his fifty with another slog off Atkinson. He was understandably fired up with his stellar effort that was duly applauded by the Indian dressing room. Jaiswal, at the other end, was happy to let Akash Deep go for his shots. However, he did play a ramp off Overton that went for a boundary.
