A joint team of FIFA and AFC officials met with stakeholders of Indian football on Tuesday to discuss the way forward for the sport in the country.
A top source told Press Trust of India, “It was a very good and constructive meeting. The meeting went off very well. Both sides were happy with the outcome of today’s meeting
“The sense from today’s meeting was that both FIFA and CoA are on the same page on almost all the issues. We can say there is agreement on the core issues. I don’t see FIFA imposing a ban on India as of now.”
AIFF has been in a fix and were left in the dark after Praful Patel was removed as president by the Supreme Court.
Since then, an advisory panel was formed to run the AIFF with Ranjit Bajaj heading the proceedings. However, this panel was disbanded before the AFC’s arrival at the AIFF office.
FIFA has assured India won’t be receiving a ban if the AIFF stick to guidelines and timelines and assembles a new AIFF executive committee in place, latest by September.
A source told the Times of India, “The message to the Committee of Administrators was simple. They have to ensure that the new constitution does not go against FIFA statutes and hold AIFF elections before the end of September. They have to stick to timelines.
“The delegation also made it clear that once the constitution is approved by the Supreme Court, it has to be passed by the AIFF general body.
AFC general secretary Datuk Seri Windsor John was reportedly unhappy with the Committee of Administrators’ decision to appoint a 12 member advisory committee headed by Ranjit Bajaj to run AIFF. This went against FIFA rules.
The report revealed that the committee was disbanded even before the FIFA-AFC officials reached the Football House on Tuesday.
The delegation already met Praful Patel on Tuesday and will meet the sports minister Anurag Thakur and state association representatives on Wednesday.
