Football Delhi Prez Shaji Prabhakaran writes to FIFA's Secretary General

The Supreme Court has asked a Committee of Administrators to take charge of AIFF.

The Supreme Court recently passed a judgment of putting aside the Executive committee at AIFF and appointed a Committee of Administrators (COA) to take charge of the administration as an interim measure. Following this move, Football Delhi's President Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran has written a letter to FIFA’s Secretary General Fatma Samoura requesting the body to not to ban India, but to "have a dialogue and arrive at a decision that would lead to the best interest of Indian Football."

Supreme Court’s Judgement

Dr. Prabhakaran highlighted the fact that the Supreme Court has appointed a Committee of Administrators (COA) to take charge at AIFF for the time being because the Executive Committee was functioning beyond their tenure.

The Supreme Court could not announce the conduct of elections, because the Statutes of the AIFF were not finalised. They are under review since 2017 and as the AIFF did not approach the adjudicator appointed by the Supreme Court in 2017 to fast track the matter, therefore the court had to take this step.

[KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]

FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup

He further mentioned about the upcoming U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup that will be held in India later this year. He requested the body to not shift the tournament out of country as it might have an adverse effect on the country as well as the tournament.

“The FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup is being hosted by India in October 2022, and any decision to move the tournament out of the country will have serious consequences on the tournament and the future of football in India,” said Dr. Prabhakaran in the letter, which is in possession of Khel Now.

[KH_ADWORDS type="3" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]

India’s relationship with FIFA

Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran also explained how India is one of the prime strategic destinations for the growth of the beautiful game. He also mentioned how FIFA has has invested substantially in the growth of the sport in the country. And any such decision can hamper football’s status in the country.

“For FIFA, India is one of the priority strategic destinations for the further growth of global football, and has invested substantially in the growth of the sport in the country, and any such decision would have an adverse impact on the country and the sport,” he wrote.

[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News |ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]

Impact of Covid-19

The Coronavirus pandemic has taken toll of the entire world at very level. From businesses to sport, everyone has faced the heat over the last couple of years. In his letter he further expressed how Covid-19 has affected the sport in India.

He wrote, “In the past 2 years, the COVID situation has hit the country hard, and if football is further stopped, there will be a severe impact on domestic football.”

The AIFF’s presidential elections has been the talk of the town for quite sometime now. But after multiple letters from state FAs and other dignitaries the matter has finally reached it’s business end. And it is expected that the election will be swiftly conducted once the constitution of the AIFF has been finalized.

For more football updates, follow Khel Now on Twitter, and Instagram and join our community on Telegram.