World football governing body FIFA has threatened to suspend the AIFF and strip of its right to host the women's U-17 World Cup in October due to a third party "influence", a development which comes just days after the Supreme Court's directive to hold elections of the national federation. The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the executive committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to expeditiously hold elections as per the schedule proposed by the Committee of Administrators (CoA), which is currently running the affairs of the national federation. It took note of the fact that India is due to host the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup from October 11. The elections were to be held on August 28 and the poll process was to start on August 13, as the top court approved the time-line prepared by the CoA.

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FIFA made it known that it is against any third party intervention to the running of its member units. "In this context, we would like to recall the AIFF's statutory obligations applicable to all of FIFA and the AFC member associations, including the obligation to manage its affairs independently and ensure that its own affairs are not influenced by any third parties (cf. art. 14.1.(i) and art. 19.1 of FIFA Statutes in conjunction with art. 15.4 of the AFC statutes)." In the letter sent on Friday, signed by FIFA and AFC General Secretary Fatma Samour and Datuk Windsor John respectively, the world body said the Supreme Court's order "allegedly" resulted in deviations to the roadmap agreed upon earlier.