The All-India Football Federation’s Ban Has Been Lifted By FIFA
The apex authority of world football imposed a ban on the All-India Football Federation, which is the mother football authority in the country. The ban was imposed because, as per FIFA, there was undue influence from third parties on the AIFF.
FIFA Suspended All India Football Federation
The turn of events leading to this ban was initiated when Praful Patel, who was the in-power president of AIFF and was also a member of the FIFA council, refused to leave his position as the head of football authority in India.
Following this rejection to relinquish his position, the Supreme court intervened and removed Patel from his post on May 18th.
The apex court quashed his reasons for not leaving the post. His argument for doing so was based on the long pandemic and a court case concerned with the constitution of AIFF. The supreme court, along with removing Patel as the President of AIFF, also formed and appointed a Committee of Administrators to run the AIFF.
As soon as the Supreme court order was enforced, FIFA had the authority to impose such a ban on AIFF because the intervention of the apex court fell into the textbook definition of undue influence from third parties. The court’s order restricted the independence of a member association of FIFA.
Also, it took away the powers to control such associations by appointing the Committee of Administrators and forcefully removing the President of such organization. Since the act of court was in clear violation of rules set by FIFA for its member organizations, a ban was imposed on AIFF and the Indian national teams.
Drawbacks Of FIFA Ban
This ban included several drawbacks. One of the drawbacks was that India couldn’t participate in any sort of international football whatsoever. This applied to every category of national football teams in India of every age group. This ban on international football also included clubs all across India.
Another drawback was that all the development programs that AIFF was a part of or was going to be a part of were adversely affected by the ban. All the international transfers for the clubs in the Indian domestic leagues will also be restricted due to the ban.
The ban meant that all the international footballing activities for India would be frozen while the domestic leagues and transfers would still be carried on as usual.
FIFA was induced to impose the ban because the COA altered the constitution of AIFF too much against the liking of the world apex football organization. This was against the assurance that the COA original gave to FIFA after it first came into existence.
India To Host U-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup
The executive committee of AIFF, which is the body that runs the affairs of AIFF and is domestically elected, had some major changes after the first draft of the new and amended constitution of AIFF, which was introduced by the COA. The COA also changed the definitions of domestic leagues in India and altered the promotion and relegation methods of Indian clubs, establishing that AIFF alone would control the top Indian leagues.
This ban immediately removed India as the host for the U-17 FIFA women’s world cup scheduled for later this year. After this saga led to the ban earlier this year, FIFA has uplifted the ban imposed on the All-India Football Federation with immediate effect.
The world football governing body made the upliftment of the ban official on August 15th. Millions of Indian football fans were relieved after this news came out. The bureau of the FIFA council decided to lift the man imposed on May 18th earlier this year after the Committee of Administrators’ mandate was terminated, and it was assured that AIFF was now in complete control of its affairs.
FIFA Will Monitor All India Football Federation
FIFA will still monitor AIFF’s affairs and make it possible and easy for the Indian football association to conduct the elections to appoint various members adequately. After these elections, the AIFF board will get its new president, and until then, it is currently being run by Sunando Dhar, the Acting General Secretary of AIFF.
Former Indian football players like legendary Bhaichung Bhutia have filed for their nominations for the post of AIFF’s president. The U-17 women’s world cup will be hosted in India as originally planned.
This is a joyous moment for all football fans in India because if the ban had been further prolonged, it could’ve seriously damaged football development in the country.
