Days after reports sent ripples across Indian football circles claiming that Spanish legend Xavi Hernandez had applied for the role of head coach of the Indian national football team, a startling revelation has come to light. The application has now been confirmed to be the work of a 19-year-old college student.
According to a report published by The Telegraph, the student, who is currently enrolled at the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), a private university in Tamil Nadu, was behind the hoax. The teenager admitted to drafting and sending the fake application email using ChatGPT, an AI-based text generator.
“I copy pasted the [ChatGPT] response and mailed it. I didn’t attach a CV or anything, but I think they saw the mail,” the student was quoted as saying in the report.
A 19-year-old student at VIT Vellore has claimed he pranked the AIFF by sending a hoax e-mail, impersonating as Spanish coach Xavi Hernandez, expressing interest in the vacant head coach role of men’s NT. [TTI] #90ndstoppage pic.twitter.com/DiVnZZc6Ah
— 90ndstoppage (@90ndstoppage) July 27, 2025
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had earlier issued a statement on Saturday, acknowledging that they had received applications allegedly from high-profile names such as Hernandez and even Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola. However, they had also said that they could not verify the authenticity of these applications.
“Additionally, the AIFF received an email furnishing the applications from Spanish coaches Pep Guardiola and Xavi Hernandez. The authenticity of their applications could not be confirmed, and it has since emerged that the email applications were not genuine,” the AIFF’s statement read.
Indian football finds itself at a critical crossroads, facing mounting challenges both on and off the pitch. While the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has narrowed down its search for the new head coach to just three candidates, the broader landscape of Indian football remains troubled.
The Indian Super League (ISL), the country’s top-tier club competition, faces an uncertain future amid an unresolved standoff between the AIFF and its commercial partners, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL). The ongoing power struggle has cast doubt over the league’s next season and threatens to further destabilize Indian football’s fragile progress.
The AIFF confirmed that it is in the final stages of selecting the next head coach of the national team, with the list trimmed down after a thorough evaluation process.
“A key takeaway from the deliberations was the shared view that appointing a coach with a deep understanding of the Asian and Indian football ecosystem would be highly beneficial to the national team’s immediate and future success,” the statement read.
