FOOTBALL DELHI HEAD REQUESTS FIFA NOT TO TAKE ADVERSE STEPS AGAINST INDIA

KOLKATA: Football Delhi president Shaji Prabhakaran has written to Fatma Samoura requesting the Fifa secretary-general to ensure no “adverse measure” is taken against the All India Football Federation (AIFF) following the appointment of a Committee of Administrators (CoA) by the Supreme Court. In the letter, a copy of which is with HT, Prabhakaran has asked Fifa to start a dialogue with stakeholders in Indian football.

The court order hands over running of AIFF to the CoA till elections are held. Should Fifa construe that as third party interference and ban AIFF, it could jeopardise India’s participation in the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers next month and hosting of the under-17 World Cup in October.

“Any decision to move the tournament (the under-17 World Cup) out of the country will have serious consequences on the tournament and the future of football in India,” Prabhakaran, who was Fifa’s regional development officer for south and central Asia, has said.

Headed by Justice (retd) AR Dave, the CoA has SY Quraishi, former chief election commissioner, and Bhaskar Ganguly, former captain of the Indian football team, as members.

Calling India “one of the priority strategic destinations” for Fifa in which it has “invested substantially”, Prabhakaran has asked the world body to “review the circumstances in its entirety before reaching any decision.”

The letter tells Fifa that appointing the CoA was the only way the AIFF executive committee could have been prevented from functioning.

“The Supreme Court could not announce the conduct of elections, because the Statutes of the AIFF were under review since 2017 and the then AIFF did not move things to fast-track the amendment of the Statutes...”