World governing body FIFA has notified India’s football association (AIFF) to complete changes to its constitution and choose new office-bearers by 15th of September to avoid being banned.
India’s highest court separated the All India Football Federation (AIFF) executive committee last month following it failed to conduct elections on time and revise its regulations in line with rules stipulated by the national sports code.
The court then recruited a three-member committee to operate the body, revise the AIFF’s constitution and hold elections that have been pending for 18 months.
FIFA laws say that member federations must be free from legal and political interference in their respective countries and the world governing body has previously suspended other national associations on the similar cases.
FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation sent a team commanded by AFC General Secretary Windsor John to meet Indian football stakeholders, counting sports minister Anurag Thakur, on a three-day visit that ended on Thursday.
“The meetings concluded that the next steps should be the ratification of the AIFF statutes in line with FIFA/AFC principles of good governance and the holding of an electoral congress to choose the next AIFF leadership,” the AFC cited in a statement.
“This would be based on a timeline agreed by AIFF stakeholders.”
Shaji Prabhakaran, chief of the Delhi FA and former FIFA regional development officer, tweeted the AIFF had been given a deadline of July 31st to amend its statutes and 15th of September to complete its election.
“FIFA-AFC delegation has given us a strict timeline. It is on us to avoid FIFA ban,” he appended.
A ban could acknowledge India losing their hosting rights for the U-17 Women’s World Cup in October.
The elections of the AIFF, led by FIFA Council member Praful Patel, were to be conducted by December 2020 however were delayed because of a halt over amendments to its constitution.
