Merit or astrology? How the Indian football team for Asian Cup qualifiers was selected
Indian national football team head coach Igor Stimac reportedly consulted a Delhi NCR-based astrologer Bhupesh Sharma before picking India's starting lineups during the 2024 Asian Cup qualifiers, according to the Indian Express.
In June 2022, India played against Afghanistan, Cambodia and Hong Kong in the qualifying round and before the start of every match, the Croatian coach consulted Sharma to pick the correct starting XIs.
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Indian Express claimed that they are in possession of the messages that were exchanged between Stimac and Sharma.
The messages between Stimac and Sharma that were published by the media are as follows.
When former AIFF general secretary Kushal Das was asked about the alleged hiring of an astrologer, Das said,
I met him at a meeting. He (Sharma) had worked for a lot of telecom companies and Bollywood personalities. What they presented was that astrological timings and the current phase of players can help motivate people into taking the right decisions.
That time, I was worried if India would qualify for the Asian Cup and so was Igor, let me be very honest. It was not a comfortable situation. For me, the most important thing was that India should qualify. So I told him (Sharma) that I will put you in touch with the coach and if he likes it, he thinks your services can be utilised, he can get back to me. Igor was very convinced and they were in Kolkata throughout.
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Stimac, when enquired by Indian Express on hiring an astrologer, said,
"Bhupesh was recommended to me and I was convinced (by others) that I have to check upon his possible effects in sport. No more than that. I requested another foreign assistant coach
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