FIFA on Monday suspended the Indian football federation with “immediate effect due to undue influence from third parties”, jeopardizing the country’s staging of the U-17 Women’s World Cup in October.
“The Bureau of the FIFA Council has unanimously decided to suspend the All India Football Federation (AIFF) with immediate effect due to undue influence from third parties, which constitutes a serious violation of the FIFA Statutes,” FIFA said in a statement released on Tuesday.
World football’s governing body called the infraction a “serious violation of the FIFA Statutes”.
The suspension will remain in place until the All India Football Federation (AIFF) regains full control of its daily affairs, FIFA said in a statement.
The AIFF is in disarray and being run by administrators after former chief Praful Patel stayed in office beyond his term without fresh elections, which courts ruled invalid.
“The 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once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFF’s daily affairs,” added the statement.
India is due to host the U-17 Women’s World Cup from October 11-30. The 2020 tournament in India was cancelled and then postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Addressing the concern, the statament said, “The suspension means that the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022, scheduled to take place in India on 11-30 October 2022, cannot currently be held in India as planned.”
“FIFA is assessing the next steps with regard to the tournament and will refer the matter to the Bureau of the Council if and when necessary. FIFA is in constant constructive contact with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in India and is hopeful that a positive outcome to the case may still be achieved,” the statement concluded.
India had already hosted the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017 and was on the path to open its doors to welcome some of the best footballers in the world for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, which was supposed to kick off on 11th October with the final slated for 30th October.
The draw for the tournament was recently conducted and the Indian team is slated to play all their group matches at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. The host nation has been drawn in Group A along with Brazil, Morocco and USA. The other two venues for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022 are Goa and Navi Mumbai.
“I am happy that India is going to host the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022. This tournament will be held in October and it will enthuse the daughters of the country towards sports,” Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi had said last month, addressing the nation in his radio-show “Mann ki Baat”.