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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.
Xavi Hernandez. (X)
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
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Check Your Facts
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.
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Xavi-ball
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.
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