Abhishek Yadav appointed India's team director

CHENNAI: Following a successful stint as the COO of India's under-17 team in the World Cup last year, Abhishek Yadav has now been appointed as the team director of the senior national team. The former India forward will work in tandem with head coach

Stephen Constantine

.

It is the first time that a former footballer has been appointed as India's team director and a highly-placed

All India Football Federation

(AIFF) official confirmed the development. "Yadav has been in charge of India's scouting programme across all age-groups for the last two years. He has a decent idea of the talent pool in the country and has shown that he has the right thought process. The post was lying vacant for some time now and the

AIFF

decided to appoint him as the team director," the official told TOI on Thursday.

After the completion of the under-17 World Cup, Yadav's immediate role was to chalk out a structure and plan for Indian Arrows. He also had the responsibilty of preparing the under-16 team for the

AFC

U-16 championships. While Arrows have been putting up a fight in the ongoing I-League, the U-16 team is scheduled to leave for Dubai soon to prepare for the event.

Yadav, who pioneered AIFF's international scouting project with Sports Authority of India (SAI) and drafted PIOs like

Sunny Dhaliwal

and

Namit Deshpande

in the U-17 team, will be expected to continue his scouting programme and also focus on restructuring Indian football across all age groups. The source said that Yadav's profile will require him to handle all technical matters. "He will look after scouting, players' contracts and budgets among other things. He has been liaising with Constantine and U-17 coach

Luis Norton de Matos

regularly. The coaches have complete trust in his knowledge about Indian football. So it will also come as a relief to the coaches as they don't have to worry about these matters. He will also continue as member of the AIFF technical committee," the source said.