Football coach took astrologer help to pick teams for Asian Cup qualifiers: Report
Igor Stimac would reportedly send the players’ details to astrologer Bhupesh Sharma before every match and wait for his prediction before finalising the team
It’s said that sports training requires five Ss — speed, skill, strength, stamina, and spirit. But the Indian football team coach Igor Stimac has reportedly added a sixth S to the list: Star. If a player’s star is lucky — yes, you read that right — he stands a greater chance of being selected in the playing XI.
According to an Indian Express report, during the Asian Cup qualifiers played in June, Stimac would send the players’ details to an astrologer, Bhupesh Sharma, before every match and wait for the latter’s prediction before finalising the team.
Sharma would apparently WhatsApp the list back to Stimac with his remarks on each player’s current luck, or the lack of it, based on which the coach would reportedly pick the team. The remarks would reportedly range from “Good”, “Can do very well”, and “A below average day”.
According to the Indian Express report, thanks to Sharma’s forecast, two big names had to sit it out for the June 11 Afghanistan match. Stimac and Sharma reportedly exchanged hundreds of messages in May-June, when India played Jordan and three matches in the Asian Cup qualifiers in Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong.
Sharma was reportedly paid Rs 12-15 lakh for his services.
How the astrologer came into the picture
Praful Patel, who was the All India Football Federation (AIFF) president then, reportedly did not know anything about Sharma. But AIFF secretary-general Kushal Das has reportedly admitted that he was the one who introduced Sharma to Stimac in May 2022.
Das told The Indian Express that Sharma, who had worked for a lot of celebrities, had claimed that astrological timings of the players could help with taking the right decisions. According to Das, Stimac and he were worried whether India would qualify for Asian Cup, which is why they took Sharma’s help.
Stimac has reportedly claimed that he had been “advised” to take Sharma’s help for the sake of the team. He has also claimed that while the astrologer was paid such an astronomical sum, he had not got any reply when he had asked for an assistant coach.
Apparently, Sharma gave his expert advice on various topics, including predicted the future of some young players, says The Indian Express report. And, Das reportedly justified the huge payment made to Sharma by arguing that “India qualified for the Asian Cup”.
