|
India's highest court disbanded the All India Football
Federation (AIFF) executive committee last month after it failed
to hold elections on time and amend its regulations in line with
rules stipulated by the national sports code.
The court then appointed a three-member committee to run the
body, amend the AIFF's constitution and conduct elections that
have been pending for 18 months.
FIFA statutes say that member federations must be free from
legal and political interference in their respective countries
and the world governing body has previously suspended other
national associations over similar cases.
FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation sent a team led by AFC
General Secretary Windsor John to meet Indian football
stakeholders, including sports minister Anurag Thakur, on a
three-day visit that concluded on Thursday.
"The meetings concluded that the next steps should be the
ratification of the AIFF statutes in line with FIFA/AFC
principles of good governance and the holding of an electoral
congress to choose the next AIFF leadership," the AFC said in a
statement.
"This would be based on a timeline agreed by AIFF stakeholders."
Shaji Prabhakaran, chief of the Delhi FA and former FIFA
regional development officer, said on Twitter the AIFF had been
given a deadline of July 31 to amend its statutes and Sept. 15
to conclude its election.
"FIFA-AFC delegation has given us a strict timeline. It is on us
to avoid FIFA ban," he added.
A ban could see India losing their hosting rights for the
Under-17 Women's World Cup in October.
The elections of the AIFF, led by FIFA Council member Praful
Patel, were to be held by December 2020 but were delayed due to
an impasse over amendments to its constitution.
Cricket-mad India is a massive underachiever in football and the
country, which is home to 1.3 billion people, has yet to make an
appearance at the World Cup finals.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Peter Rutherford)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
