Ian Stelle, a former CEO of Scottish first division club Motherwell FC, gave it a miss, but the three Indian candidates — Anil Kamat, Harish Rao and Sunando Dhar — were present when the All India Football Federation (AIFF) conducted the interviews for the post of I-League CEO on Thursday.

Favourite for the post, Stelle's absence, according to sources, could force the AIFF to conduct a fresh round of interviews later in the month.

“Three candidates appeared for the interview but he (Stelle) couldn't make it due to family reasons,” an AIFF official said after the interviews, which were conducted by vice-presidents Subrata Dutta, AR Khaleel and general-secretary Alberto Colaco in the presence of president Praful Patel.

Kamat, the AIFF's director of communications, is associated with the federation for more than a decade now. Former Mahindra United player, Harish Rao, served the Mumbai outfit as its manager after retirement, while Sunando Dhar is an employee with sports management firm Leisure Sports Management.