Even in retirement, Kushal Das was on speed dial for some. Last January, CEOs of Indian Super League clubs and officials in the All India Football Federation (AIFF) sought names for the post of league commissioner and Das provided them with a couple.
Senior AIFF officials, current deputy secretary-general Satyanarayan Muthyalu included, often reached out to the former general secretary often and were usually better off for it.
Giving character to concrete
Das, who died last Friday at the age of 66, breathed life into Football House. AIFF’s permanent address in Dwarka near New Delhi was in place when he joined in November 2010 but Das gave character to concrete. AIFF had a staff of around 25 when he joined, said Sunando Dhar, the former deputy general secretary. “It was around 150 when he left in 2022.”
Dhar remembers Das inquiring about AIFF when they spent a week in Male for a FIFA course soon after joining. Having been the chief financial officer at IMG and ICC, Das was transitioning from a football fan (and of Brian Clough) to being on the inside. He learnt and learnt fast.
“Kushal provided stability to the AIFF which continued to grow with him as general secretary,” said Alberto Colaco, Das’s predecessor and a long-time administrator in Indian football.
The AIFF’s coaches department, the grassroots department and the Indian Arrows project – once a crucial pipeline for national team players -blossomed on his watch. He liaised with the Union government and ensured India’s first football World Cup, the men’s under-17 edition in 2017, was hugely successful (it remains the most attended in the competition’s history).
It was during the under-17 World Cup that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the state would give land for a national training centre. The 2022 women’s under-17 World Cup was also awarded to India when Das was in office.
IMG-Reliance became a commercial partner weeks after he joined. “It is time football generated this kind of money,” Das told Hindustan Times. And yet, when I wrote about “ennui replacing excitement” in 2012, he sent a text saying he hoped “this would wake them up.”
Backing Constantine
Das handled the exit of Bob Houghton and sat in on interviews of Wim Koevermans, Stephen Constantine and Igor Stimac. “I was told accounting was his thing, not football. I was okay with that because as general secretary you don’t need to be technical about football. You need to run the organisation. And he did,” said Constantine over the phone from Kigali after being appointed Rwanda’s national team coach for the second time. (Apart from India, where he was head coach from 2002-05 and from 2015-19, it is the only country that has called Constantine back).
“In our first conversation, he was polite, nice and courteous. Pretty much the opposite of everything I am supposed to be,” said Constantine, 63. “Oh! The number of times he would tell me, “Stephen, calm down. We will find a solution.”” Among them was Constantine getting an office in Football House. “He was a little surprised at my request, even more so when I asked if I could get it painted, but he got it done.”
And, behind the scenes, he backed me, said Constantine. On the request of some players, Constantine said he had arranged for them to meet Das “to discuss bonuses for qualifying to the Asian Cup (in 2019).” Turned out the players wanted “Kushal to sack me.” Another general secretary may have buckled under player pressure, but he didn’t, said Constantine.
India were 171 in the FIFA rankings when Constantine returned in 2015. In February 2018, they were unbeaten in 13 games, had reached a 24-year ranking high of 96 and qualified for the 2019 Asian Cup. “I could not have done it without him. From appointing Lee (Johnson, assistant-coach), Danny (Deigan, sports scientist), Kushal and Praful Patel (then AIFF president) gave me everything I needed,” said Constantine.
“He was a leader, not the ra-ra kind, who knew how to trust. You need to be okay with yourself to be able to do that.” Anyone in AIFF who was there in Das’s time will corroborate what Constantine said. It empowered HoDs who, in turn, helped their teams grow, one of them told me. Appraisals happened on time and staff felt looked after, the official said.
A chartered accountant by training, Das graduated in mathematics from St Stephen’s (1977-80). “I had got full marks in maths in school-leaving examinations,” he had told me, looking visibly embarrassed. Ironically, he would be accused of fiscal impropriety. An audit was ordered but its findings were never made public. By then, Das had left AIFF for health reasons.
A meeting at a Kolkata hotel in 2010 was the first of many for us. There were times when Hindustan Times had reports showing AIFF in poor light but Das never let his displeasure, or disappointment, show. After he retired, we would mostly speak or text about the good (rare), not-so-good (often) happenings at AIFF. But also about other things.
“Read your article on Nottingham Forest. College days were full of them, Brian Clough era. Happy New Year,” he wrote in January 2025. It is the last message I have from him.
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