FIFA ban: Ripple effect of AIFF's own-goal

In a massive setback for the country world football governing body FIFA on Tuesday suspended India for ldquoundue influence from third partiesrdquo and said the U17 Womenrsquos World Cup to be held from October 1130 ldquocannot currently be held in India as plannedrdquo This is the first time the All India Football Federation AIFF has been banned by FIFA in its 85year historyWorld Cup snatched awayIn its statement FIFA said ldquoThe 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once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFFrsquos daily affairs The suspension means that the FIFA U17 Womenrsquos World Cup 2022 scheduled to take place in India on 1130 October 2022 cannot currently be held in India as plannedrdquoAlso Read Former India footballers react to FIFAs ban on the AIFFA ban on India has been on the cards since the Supreme Court removed Praful Patel as AIFF president on May 18 for not holding elections due in December 2020 The court appointed a threemember Committee of Administrators CoA to manage AIFFrsquos affairs The CoA also had to frame its constitution as per the National Sports Code guidelinesTension all aroundThere was palpable tension among top players as well as prominent ISL and ILeague clubs after the FIFA ban As per Article 13 of FIFA Statutes FIFArsquos letter sent general secretary Fatma Samoura states that ldquoAIFF representatives and club teams are therefore no longer entitled to take part in the international competition until the suspension is lifted This also means that neither the AIFF nor any of its members or officials may benefit from any development programmes courses or training from FIFA andor the AFCrdquoWhile there is no imminent threat to the AFC Asian Cup participation by the senior menrsquos team in late 2023 or early 2024 some games slated for clubs and agegroup national teams in the next few months could well be on a tricky turfHere are some upcoming assignments under threat due to the bangtgt Team Indiarsquos upcoming friendliesThe two friendly internationals against Vietnam September 24 and Singapore September 27 will stand cancelled if the ban is not revoked at the earliest A few years ago the Indian menrsquos team used to struggle to get quality games on FIFA international friendly dates and a lot of the blame lay at the doors of the All India Football Federationrsquos administration Things did change slightly after Croatian head coach Igor Stimac pushed for more friendlies something that his predecessors Stephen Constantine and Wim Koevermans lacked But this ban has brought the senior team back to square onegtgt Indiarsquos AFC U20 Qualifiers in Iraq begin on Sept 14The U20 SAFF Cupwinning Indian team PicAIFF MediaIndia who won the U20 SAFF Cup recently under the tutelage of S Venkatesh are due to play the AFC U20 Qualifiers in Iraq India are clubbed in a very tough group with hosts Iraq Australia and Kuwait The matches are slated for September 14 Iraq 16 Australia and 18 Kuwait respectively at the Iraqi city of Basragtgt Mohun Baganrsquos AFC Cup InterZonal semis under a cloudATK Mohun Bagan players celebrate a goal during a preseason friendly against Mohammedan Sporting recentlyOne of Indiarsquos most loved football clubs ATK Mohun Bagan were supposed to play its AFC Cup InterZonal semifinals on September 7 but a look at the AFC website will show that ATKMBrsquos name currently doesnrsquot feature among eight clubs in the playoffs The teams that are listed on the website are PSM Makassar Kedah Darul Aman Viettel FC Kuala Lumpur City FC Arabi SC Al Seeb East Riffa Al Riffa Mohun Bagan played great football at the group league stage and their fans were eagerly waiting for the upcoming games at the continental levelgtgt Gokulam Kerala women wait anxiously in UzbekistanThe Gokulam Kerala FC womenrsquos team on their arrival in Uzbekistan on TuesdayIndian Womenrsquos League champions Gokulam Kerala were set to open their campaign in the AFC Womenrsquos Club Championship against home side SogdianaW in Qarshi Uzbekistan on August 23 The Kozhikodebased side is then set to face Bam Khatoon FC of Iran in its next round robin match on August 26 While the Supreme Court has listed the matter for urgent hearing on Wednesday it will be an anxious wait for the team that touched down in Tashkent on Tuesday Gokulam Kerala had participated in the last edition of the continental pilot tournament last year and finished third in the fourteam eventNo more generous grants from FIFAIt is learnt that FIFA has reportedly sanctioned grants to the tune of USD 3 million in last three years The money is used by AIFF for development of grassroots football If the ban persists annually the AIFF stands to lose USD 500000 in grants However an AIFF insider said that FIFA currently pays its member nations in kindmdashsuch as construction of astroturf providing footballs jerseys and other gearmdashand not in cash All this could be stopped tooThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever