Why FIFA banned the AIFF.
A thread. A dark one.
A thread. A dark one.
The AIFF hadn’t had a new president in 13 years. Praful Patel had completed three four-year terms and was not eligible for standing as president again. This was as per laws laid down in the National Sports Code.
On May 18, the Supreme Court swooped in and disbanded the All India Football Federation and appointed a three-member committee to govern the sport in the country.
The CoA comprises former top court judge AR Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi and Indian men’s football team ex-captain Bhaskar Ganguly. Things had started to look up. Fans were happy with Patel’s exit and a new regime coming in was welcomed.
With a new CoA at the helm, the mandate by FIFA was clear. Get new elections underway, finalise the constitution and present it to a delegation of FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ASAP.
Trouble begins. First, CoA created an advisory council comprising 12 familiar faces, including @THE_RanjitBajaj. That council was almost immediately disbanded, since FIFA is strictly against third party interference. Don’t understand why the CoA thought of this at first.
Despite the not-so-good start and according to well-placed sources quoted by the Indian Express’ @mihirsv in a June 21 article, the world body was still unlikely to impose a ban on the country. Well.
indianexpress.com
indianexpress.com
Since June, the CoA was active in setting up meetings with various stakeholders, charting fresh elections. Things were looking up again. However, the threat of a ban was always looming. FIFA has banned several associations around the world in circumstances that were less graver.
A week ago, the CoA had obtained evidence that AIFF ex-chief Praful Patel was back in the picture. Patel had held meetings with 35 member associations of the country “with the express purpose of interfering with the proceedings of the Supreme Court”.
sportstar.thehindu.com
sportstar.thehindu.com
We’re up to today now, and the axe has come down. The U-17 FIFA WWC has been stripped off with less than two months to go. There are no national team matches. All our leagues stand officially unrecognised. Nobody was able to rescue the sinking ship. Maybe this is what was needed.
Maybe sinking was the only option. Indeed, it is a dark dark day. But it's time we got FIFA on our side and clear the mess we're in. This doesn't have to be the end of something, but rather a chance to start afresh. The serious misgovernance issues have to be dealt with.
Loading suggestions...