FIFA suspends AIFF: Every major controversy around the Indian football body

FIFA, the global football governing authority, has suspended India’s All India Football Federation (AIFF) citing unwanted third party influence as a major reason. One of the direct consequences of this decision is that India would no longer be hosting the Under-17 Women’s World Cup, which was planned for this October. 

What is the current suspension about: FIFA’s official statement is quite ominous as it directly doesn’t state what external influence has caused this fallout, but there are high chances that AIFF’s internal politics and the interference of external bodies like Supreme Court and the Sports Ministry is a major cause. The official FIFA rules clearly state that the body is against interference from national government and judicial bodies in the affairs of national football bodies. 

 

“The suspension will be lifted once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFF’s daily affairs,’’ reads the statement from AIFF. 

And true to the statement, AIFF does struggle to retain control over its own affairs given the entire drama around its President. 

Why the AIFF President was overstaying his term: The last President of the AIFF, Praful Patel, served three terms (each of four years) with his final term coming to an end in 2020. Even though three terms is the maximum limit that’s allowed for AIFF Presidents according to the Indian Sports Code, Patel continued to hold office and asked for his executive committee also to stay in power. 

The reason? A 2017 case with the Supreme Court with regards to clarification over the AIFF constitution. Patel clung on to his seat and AIFF decided to not hold fresh elections until the matter was resolved. 

The Sports Ministry entered the clash, adding that a violation of the Sports Code could lead to the withdrawal of government recognition of AIFF. 

 

The matter was finally resolved in May 2022, when Patel stepped down and the AIFF accepted the SC’s decision to hold new elections. On recommendations of the Court, a three-member team would run the daily affairs of the football organisation. This Committee of Administrators (CoA) includes retired Justice AR Dave as the head and former Indian captain Bhaskar Ganguly and former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi as the other members. 

As for Patel’s wish to extend his stay, it has been widely suggested that he did so in order to secure a spot in the global FIFA Council (elections of which were to take place in 2023). However, with AIFF’s suspension and his own tussles with the Supreme Court, a FIFA council seat doesn’t seem to be on the cards for him anymore. 

Molestation allegations on the General Secretary: The public image of AIFF got tarnished further in April 2022, when ex-I League club Minerva Punjab FC owner Ranjit Bajaj alleged that General Secretary Kushal Das had molested employees. 

AIFF rejected the allegations with integrity officer Javed Siraj claiming that his inquiry involved consultation with current and previous heads of the AIFF Internal Complaints Committee. 

Even though Das continues to hold his office, the AIFF’s standards were getting lower for the Sports Ministry and of course, the FIFA. 

Under-funding from the government: The national football teams in the country haven’t really made a mark on the global scale in the last few years. This performance compelled the government to ask the AIFF to focus more on grassroot-level talent. 

 

It also served as a convenient excuse to cut down AIFF’s funding as was evident from a report by Annual Calendar of Training and Competitions. The report states that AIFF’s funding was cut from Rs 30 crore (for the year 2019-2020) to Rs 5 crore (for the year 2022-2023)!

The current situation: FIFA’s official statement reads, “FIFA is 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.” Steps for the future of the U-17 Women’s World Cup would also be taken accordingly. 

The suspension also brutally affects the chances of the national teams to contest in global tournaments that fall under the aegis of FIFA.