Indian was scheduled to host fifa tournament From 11-30 October.
“The Bureau of the FIFA Council has unanimously decided to suspend the All India Football Federation (AIFF) with immediate effect for undue influence of third parties, which is a serious violation of the FIFA Rules,” FIFA said in a statement.
The FIFA Council’s Bureau said the suspension would be subject to a complete revocation of the order of the Committee of Administrators (CoA). FIFA also said in a statement that it wants AIFF Administration “To be fully in charge of the daily affairs of AIFF”.
“Once the order to constitute a Committee of Administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee is revoked, the suspension will be lifted and the AIFF Administration will gain full control over the day-to-day affairs of the AIFF.”
“The suspension means that the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022, which is scheduled to take place in India from 11-30 October 2022, cannot be held as currently planned in India. The next steps regarding the FIFA tournament are is assessing and shall, if necessary, refer the matter to the Bureau of the Council.”
Meanwhile, the central government has demanded an urgent hearing of the AIFF case in the Supreme Court. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna that a “significant development” has taken place and FIFA has sent a letter suspending India which is in the public domain and seeks to bring it on record. needed. ,
A four-member FIFA delegation had meetings with senior officials of the Sports Ministry and the CoA on Friday and Monday respectively.
A Sports Ministry official said: “As of last evening it seemed that all parties had reached an agreement, but last night FIFA informed us that they would have to ban AIFF as per the decision of their internal committee.”
“FIFA is against the CoA’s interference, but it is open to dialogue and wants the AIFF Executive Board to be there as soon as possible, and if it does, they will lift the ban.
“Government is committed to resolve the matter as soon as possible” Under-17 Women’s Junior World Cup will be organized by India,” he said.
India has been banned since the removal of Praful Patel as AIFF President by the Supreme Court on May 18 for not holding elections in December 2020.
The court had appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) headed by former apex court judge AR Dave to manage the affairs of the national federation.
The CoA, which has former Chief Commissioner of India SY Qureshi and former India captain Bhaskar Ganguly as other members, was also to frame its constitution in line with the National Sports Code and model guidelines.
The Bureau of the FIFA Council decided that upon lifting the suspension, the AIFF constitution would have to be amended in accordance with the requirements of FIFA and the AFC and approved by the General Assembly of the AIFF without any third party interference.
FIFA, “concurrently”, wants “an independent Electoral Committee to be elected by the AIFF General Assembly to run the election of a new Executive Committee”.
It also said that the AIFF “should carry out the ensuing electoral process in accordance with the statutory requirements and conduct its elections on the basis of the pre-existing membership of the AIFF (i.e. only state associations).
In accordance with the move by FIFA and the AIFF having lost all membership rights until further notice, Indian clubs and representatives (players, referees, officials) are no longer entitled to participate in international suspensions until the suspension is lifted.
“This also means that neither AIFF nor any of its members or officials can benefit from any development programmes, courses or training provided by FIFA and/or the AFC,” the world body said in its detailed statement.
FIFA has never allowed third party interference by the court or the government in the affairs of its member units. It has formed normalization committees in different countries in matters like India.
FIFA, however, has kept a window open for India and said it is in touch with the Sports Ministry on the issue.
“FIFA is in constant constructive contact with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in India and hopes that a positive outcome of the case can still be achieved,” it added.
After the ban, the fate of the AIFF elections, to be held on August 28 on the orders of the Supreme Court, is yet to be ascertained.
The election process began on August 13 as the apex court approved the time-frame prepared by the Committee of Administrators (CoA).
The COA has already appointed a returning officer and published the electoral college for election, which includes 36 eminent sportspersons in the list. Nominations are to be filed from Wednesday to Friday.
India’s football fraternity is hoping that a last-minute solution will salvage the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup when the Supreme Court hears the matter on Wednesday.
The Sports Ministry had filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking amendments to its August 5 order allowing 36 eminent sportspersons to vote in the AIFF elections on the grounds that they were not eligible for ‘individual membership’ in the world body AIFF. was not in favor. ,
According to sources, FIFA reiterated its stand to the Sports Ministry on Monday and then issued a statement imposing a ban on India (around 10 p.m. local time in Switzerland; early Tuesday in India).
The Supreme Court on August 3 directed the Executive Committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to expedite the elections as per the schedule proposed by the CoA.
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