FIFA bans AIFF, Says India can't host U-17 Women’s World Cup
In an unfortunate turn of events, FIFA has finally banned the All India Football Federation with'immediate effect due to undue influence from third parties'. This will clearly have an impact on the Women's U-17 World Cup that India is scheduled to host later this year if the ban is not lifted.
Late on Monday night, FIFA made the decision to suspend the All India Football Federation owing to "undue influence from third parties, which constitutes a serious breach of the FIFA Statutes."
A press statement was posted on the FIFA website to make the announcement. The body that oversees international soccer said it will end the ban "once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFF's daily affairs."
In May of this year, the Supreme Court put the AIFF under the control of a Committee of Administrators (CoA) that it had chosen. The CoA had chosen a different committee to advise it in June, but it was disbanded a day later when FIFA reportedly raised serious concerns.
The FIFA ban has a number of effects on Indian football, including the fact that any local competitions held during the suspension would not be accepted by the AFC or FIFA. Additionally, there will be no international competition for the national teams.
This would rule out the Gokulam Kerala women's squad from participating in the AFC Women's Club Championship when they left on Monday for Uzbekistan.
The fact that it also implies that India cannot host the FIFA U17 Women's World Cup any longer, as well as the Indian team's inability to participate in the competition, is a bigger worry. FIFA stated that they are considering further measures in this regard.
FIFA also said that they are in "constant constructive contact with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in India and is hopeful that a positive outcome to the case may still be achieved."
In the past, there had been rumours that FIFA had been adamantly opposed to the inclusion of an equivalent number of individual members (i.e., "eminent players") in the electoral college for the upcoming elections of the AIFF; an election for which a joint FIFA-AFC committee had already set a date of September 15th.
On Wednesday, August 17, the Supreme Court is scheduled to continue hearing from the CoA about the election's progress and the creation of the AIFF constitution. Additionally, that is the deadline for submitting nominations for the position of AIFF president.