Football’s top-most governing body, FIFA, has suspended the AIFF (All India Football Federation) with immediate effect due to third-party interferences. This ban means that India have been stripped of their hosting rights for the U-17 women’s FIFA World Cup, scheduled to take place in October 2022 in the country.
No FIFA Funding and no tournaments in India. The major repercussion of this suspension is that India’s hosting rights for the upcoming U-17 Women’s World Cup have been taken away. In addition, no men’s or women’s Indian team from any age groups can play against any other national football teams in friendlies or official matches during the suspension period. This means Indian teams won’t be able to participate in the AFC Women Club Championships, AFC Cup and AFC Champions league competitions.
This ban will not affect India’s two domestic competitions, the ISL and I-League, which can go ahead as planned.
The reason for the suspension from FIFA is due to the undue influences from third parties in the AIFF, which violates the FIFA statutes. The problem originated for the AIFF after former president Praful Patel stayed in office beyond his term without hosting elections. The Supreme Court later ousted him from his post and placed the AIFF under the governance of a three-person committee of administrators.
In June, FIFA and AFC (Asian Football Confederation) set strict deadlines for AIFF to approve the new constitution by the 31st of July and hold elections for a new committee by the 15th of September. However, the AIFF and CoA officials did not adhere to this request in time, leading FIFA to take matters into its own hands and suspend the country’s apex footballing body.
Yes. This suspension is not binding yet, and the AIFF still have some time to get their house in order to reverse the ban and ensure that the 2022 U-17 women’s FIFA World Cup stays in the country.
FIFA has stated that they are in talks with the sports ministry and are hopeful of a positive outcome regarding the women’s age group showpiece event. If the AIFF can quickly host elections and form an AIFF administration to take over the day-to-day duties of the body, the federation will fall in line with the FIFA statutes.
Shivaan Shah