Praful Patel on rocky boat in murky waters

On Friday, FIFA Head of Tournaments Jaime Yarza had some strong words to say on the preparations in Kochi for the U-17 World Cup to be held across six venues in India from October 6 to 28.

“I was here last February and, to be honest, while some work has happened, it’s by far not enough, which is a matter of deep concern,” he said. Just a couple of days back, Yarza had called on organisers in Delhi to move at a ‘stronger’ pace.

All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel is not directly involved with the preparations in any of the six venues, but here’s the catch: no work was being done in the venue in Kochi for almost one-third of last year due to the Indian Super League, a tournament that is recognised neither by FIFA nor the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

“It is a well-known fact that almost no work could happen last year while ISL was happening and that has had an impact on the renovation timelines. We need to recover fast,” tournament director of the local organising committee, Javier Ceppi, said

With Praful Patel at its helm, the AIFF has been helpless in preventing the ISL from hindering U-17 World Cup preparations and AIFF’s marketing partners hold major influence when it comes to decision-making.

It became even more obvious on Thursday with the appointment of Reliance Sports CEO Sundar Raman into AIFF’s technical committee.

Cricket fans will of course remember Sundar Raman from his days as the Chief Operating Officer of IPL. The Supreme Court-appointed Mudgal Committee report stated that Raman had been ‘in touch with a contact of a bookmaker eight times during the last IPL season’ (2013).

The AIFF president recently appointed singer-turned BJP MP Babul Supriyo as the vice-president of the local organising committee for the U-17 World Cup.

Amid these developments, it is worth remembering that Patel had been re-elected as president of the governing body in controversial circumstances last year. Despite the Delhi High Court initially placing a stay order, the elections later got the go-ahead and all 17 members were elected unopposed.

It wasn’t an election in its truest sense. Seventeen members filed nomination papers for the seventeen posts, and were duly ‘elected’ for the positions.

With the new four-year term ahead of him, Patel and the AIFF top-brass will also need to find a middle ground for the Indian league structure. The ISL continues to take away a major chunk of the Indian football calendar.

As seen in Kochi, the ISL will continue to be a distraction for Indian football unless it is merged with the I-League. It, however, remains to be seen whether AIFF’s commercial rights holder allows for the transition into a merged league system.