By Jagannath Chatterjee

New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS): The President of Football Delhi, Shaji Prabhakaran, is tipped to become the General Secretary of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), a source close to the development in the AIFF told IANS on Friday.

Prabhakaran, who was in the forefront of the group of people who wanted a change in the functioning of the AIFF, did not contest the AIFF elections held on Friday. A decision in this regard may be taken during the executive committee meeting of AIFF scheduled on Saturday.

At the AIFF elections held on Friday, former India goalkeeper Kalyan Chaubey was elected the President after he defeated football icon Bhaichung Bhutia by a margin of 33-1.

Prabhakaran, who started his career with AIFF as Director of Vision and national teams, also worked with FIFA. Subsequently, he got elected as the President of Delhi Soccer Association, now known as Football Delhi.

In a recent interview with IANS, Prabhakaran, who was confident of Kalyan Chaubey becoming the AIFF President, had said that his only interest is to see change and support the growth and development of Indian football, adding that he would continue to do whatever I can in the best interest of Indian football.

"My expectation from the new AIFF setup is that as a new team, it should take the best possible guidance and support from whoever possible, and I will always be there for any kind of support. That way we can move ahead and create a very positive and warm environment whereby Indian football gets the right headline in terms of moving forward," he had said.

Now that the change has taken place in AIFF and a new team under the leadership of Chaubey has assumed office, a decision to appoint Prabhakaran as General Secretary could be taken at Saturday's executive committee meeting.