FIFA suspends All India Football Federation; U-17 Women's World Cup gets suspended as well

Football's premier ruling body FIFA on Tuesday decided to suspendAll India Football Federation (AIFF) with immediate effect for colluding with third parties and influencing the footballing operations in the country. The suspension had been looming for a long time and FIFA stated that the decision to ban AIFF was taken unanimously.

"The Bureau of the FIFA Council has unanimously decided to suspend the All India Football Federation (AIFF) with immediate effect due to undue influence from third parties, which constitutes a serious violation of the FIFA Statutes.' said the body in its statement.

As a result of the ban, the upcoming FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup scheduled to take place from October 11-30 will remain suspended. FIFA added that the future of the tournament will be decided in due time and if required, the matter may be forwarded to Bureau of the Council.

FIFA added that the suspension will only be lifted when the Indian Footballing Federation gets its act together.

"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once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFF’s daily affairs." added FIFA.

As reported extensively by WION, AIFF is currently in turmoil as the board is being run by the Supreme Court (SC)-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) after former president Praful Patel's ouster.

After the Supreme Court of India directed the AIFF to conduct elections in the national federation, FIFA issued its warning. In a strongly worded letter in association with Asian Football Confederation(AFC), FIFA, earlier this month remarked:

"AIFF was to call for a special general assembly in the first week of August 2022 to approve the new statute worked upon with FIFA, the AFC and the Indian football community.Unfortunately, we have been informed that the Supreme Court’s hearing held yesterday on the situation of the AIFF allegedly resulted in deviations to the aforementioned roadmap."

It further added,“If this is considered to be true, it would irrefutably jeopardise the mutual understanding which was displayed so far on the steps forward."

A ban from FIFA is expected to be catastrophic for Indian football as the national teams will not be able to take part in any international tournament. The ISL and I-League clubs who are set to compete in FIFA-governed tournaments will also be barred from participating in them. However, the most heartbreaking news will be the cancellation of host duties for the U-17 Women's World Cup. It can set back the women's game another 10-15 years.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: