Bajaj’s frustration, as the report describes it, is less about personalities and more about planning.
“I had absolutely no idea,” Bajaj said. “Nobody from the AIFF had spoken to me before the announcement.”
That matters. In youth football, roles cannot be improvised. If a federation is building a tournament staff, clarity has to come first:
Bajaj also said: “I don't see the logic behind appointing me as manager and Bibiano as coach together.” It is a pointed line, but it speaks to a wider issue - youth teams need aligned ideas, not hurried pairings.
The sharper criticism may be about the clock. “Youth football is about long-term planning,” Bajaj said. “You don't start building a World Cup team two months before the tournament.”
That is the heart of it. Youth development is not just about picking the most promising names at the last minute. It is about:
If preparations are late, even talented groups can look undercooked.
Bajaj has long been one of the loudest voices around grassroots development, and this row appears to have touched a nerve because it fits an old pattern: Indian football often talks about youth reform, but too often the structure arrives after the urgency.
With the tournament due in Azerbaijan in October, the next move matters more than the noise. Whether Bajaj is involved or not, the storyline to watch now is simple: can the AIFF turn a messy start into a coherent plan for India U-15 before time runs out?