new delhi former india striker abhishek yadav has been appointed as the first deputy general secretary of all india football federation aiff after the sports body decided to create a new post in its hierarchyit is one of the rare instances when a former indian team player has been appointed to a highranking position in the sports national federationthe 40yearold former international who has played with the likes of bhaichung bhutia sunil chhetri mahesh gawli and climax lawrence has been serving as national teams director since january 2018abhishek has done a commendable job so far and i have personally observed him grow in stature as an administrator said aiff president praful patelyadav who is respected among his contemporaries and also served as the captain of the indian team has been involved with the aiff in various capacities for a while now working closely with general secretary kushal dasaiff general secretary kushal das has guided and given me valuable inputs throughout the time i have been involved in the aiff setup i must thank him for helping me as playing and administration are totally different yadav saidi also have to thank the president for supporting me in various football development initiatives after i got the opportunity to work for the betterment of indian football he addedyadav took the initiative to start the aiffs scouting programme both in india and abroad before taking up the role of the director of indias national teamsgiving yadav a key administrative role is a reward for his impressive work with the national teamsthe federation is certain that bringing into its fold a wellknown former player with knowledge of the football ecosystem could benefit the federationdas had high praise for yadavs work with the aiff and backed him to excel in his new roleabhishek has really impressed in the time he has been with the aiff working with our scouting program and national teamshe has risen through the system with his hard work and we feel that he is well suited to such a role and has all the tools to succeed in it das told ptiaccording to the federation top bosses yadavs work with aiffs developmental side indian arrows and the u17 national team for the 2017 fifa world cup at home was commendablehe developed the aiffs international scouting project in cooperation with the sports authority of india sai helping create opportunities for indian passport holders who were based abroadyadav was also the chief operating officer coo of indias u17 world cup teamhe also played a key role in chalking out a plan for the revival of indian arrows which included picking the best of talent from the india u16 and u17 teamsyadav has had a long and successful career in indian football representing the likes of mahindra united churchill brothers and mumbai fcnotably he scored the decisive goal in indias lg cup triumph in 2002 coming off the bench to net the winner on debut in the final against vietnamthat strike nearly two decades ago