Football body FIFA has warned India’s football association, All India Football Federation, that it risks losing the upcoming Under-17 Women’s World Cup and a ban due to “deviations” from an agreed roadmap aimed reslove its governance issues.
Supreme Court disbanded AIFF in May this year and appointed a three-member committee to amend the association’s constitution and conduct elections that have been pending for 18 months.
Eariler, a seven-member FIFA and Asian Football Confederation joint delegation have said the new constitution of the AIFF must be finalised by July 31. They plan to conclude elections at the latest by Sept. 15.
This week, the Indian court ordered elections to be held promptly and said the elected committee would be an interim body for a period of three months.
The letter, seen by Reuters, asked the Indian body to provide a transcript of the court’s decision by Tuesday.
“As per the said roadmap, the AIFF was to call for a special general assembly on the first week of August 2022 to approve the new statutes worked upon with FIFA, the AFC and the Indian football community,” reads a letter sent by FIFA and AFC.
“Unfortunately, we have been informed that the Supreme Court’s hearing held yesterday (Wednesday) on the situation of the AIFF allegedly resulted in deviations to the aforementioned roadmap.
“If this is considered to be true, it would irrefutably jeopardise the mutual understanding which was displayed so far on the steps forward.”
FIFA warned sanctions if serious deviations to the agreed roadmap were found, could include “the suspension of the AIFF and the withdrawal of the hosting rights for the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India (in October)”.
The elections of the AIFF, formerly 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.
