Women’s U-17 World Cup back on track after India bows to FIFA fury
ZURICH: The FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup will go ahead in India after all after the international football federation a suspension imposed on the All India Football Federation over undue third-party influence.
The Under-17 Women’s event is scheduled October 11-30.
India’s supreme court disbanded the AIFF in May and appointed a Committee of Administrators (CoA) to govern the sport, amend the AIFF’s constitution and conduct elections that have been pending for 18 months.
FIFA reacted by suspending India from world football under regulations insisting that member federations must be free from legal and political interference.
Now AIFF acting general secretary Sunando Dhar has informed FIFA secretary-general Fatma Samoura that the Supreme Court had directed the full repeal of the CoA mandate to ensure the AIFF had full charge of its daily affairs.
A subsequent FIFA statement said: “The decision (to lift the ban) was taken after FIFA received confirmation that the mandate of the Committee of Administrators that was set up to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee had been terminated.
“FIFA and the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) will continue to monitor the situation and will support the AIFF in organising its elections in a timely manner.”
The elections of the AIFF, formerly led by FIFA Council member Praful Patel, were due to be held by December 2020 but delayed due to an impasse over amendments to its constitution.
“The darkest hour of Indian football is finally over,” Dhar said in an AIFF statement.
“We sincerely thank FIFA and AFC, especially the AFC General Secretary Windsor John for guiding us in such difficult times.
“We also take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and the Sports Minister Anurag Thakur for solidly standing by us at this crucial juncture.”
FIFA statement:
The Bureau of the FIFA Council has decided to lift the suspension that was imposed on the All India Football Federation (AIFF) due to undue third-party influence.
The decision was taken after FIFA received confirmation that the mandate of the committee of administrators that was set up to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee had been terminated and that the AIFF administration had regained full control of the AIFF’s daily affairs. FIFA and the AFC will continue to monitor the situation and will support the AIFF in organising its elections in a timely manner.
As a consequence, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022™ scheduled to take place on 11-30 October 2022 will be held in India as planned.
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