Close on the heels of the Supreme Court on Monday disbanding the Committee of Administrators running the All India Football Federation, as demanded by FIFA, the returning officer announced that elections to the AIFF executive committee will be held on September 2 and aspiring candidates can file fresh nominations from August 25.
Hours after the SC order, returning officer Umesh Sinha issued a fresh notice, outlining the process afresh. The nominations for the posts can be filed between Thursday and Saturday while the scrutiny will be done on Sunday (August 28), PTI reports.
The candidates, whose nominations are deemed valid, will have a chance to withdraw the nomination, if they want, on August 29 while the returning officer shall prepare the final list of contesting candidates and put it on the AIFF website on August 30.
The polls would be held on September 2 at AIFF Headquarter in New Delhi and the results could be announced either on September 2 or 3, according to the returning officer’s notice.
FIFA had suspended the AIFF on August 15 for ‘undue third party interference’ and rescinded India’s hosting rights for the U-17 Women’s World Cup, which the country is scheduled to host in October.
Following the CoA’s termination, the Supreme Court on Monday directed that the day-to-day affairs of the AIFF will be overseen by acting secretary-general Sunando Dhar.
As per its revised order, there will be no ‘eminent footballers’ as individual voters, something that violates the FIFA Statutes.
Coming back to the apex court’s termination of the CoA it had constituted, while issuing its orders, Justice D Y Chandrachud, heading the two-judge Bench hearing the case, directed some scathing comments at former AIFF president Praful Patel: “You tell us that there is an objection and you torpedo the tournament. Mr Praful Patel is trying to torpedo the tournament. You try it also now. We will deal with you.”
CoA was more a hindrance than a help
Harsh words aside, there is no getting away from the fact that the primary blame for this sorry saga has to be laid squarely at the door of an out of touch and intransigent CoA.
As ESPN notes, the key sticking point in the week-long tangle between FIFA and the CoA was simple: FIFA was adamant that, in line with its rules for all countries, only the 36 member bodies could elect the AIFF’s new governing body, while the CoA’s proposal was an electoral college of which half (another 36) were eminent former players (nominated, not elected). This was the basis for FIFA to cite “third-party interference” while banning the AIFF.
ESPN notes that the CoA had been expressly informed by FIFA as early as 26 July that expanding the electoral college was “not a prudent idea”.
The letter had said, “Although we agree that the players’ voice needs to be heard, we are also of the view that the importance of the existing members of the AIFF should not be undermined. To bring in 50 percent of the members in the Congress structure which equals the current membership structure is not prudent idea… However, we understand the requirements of the Sports Code of India and recommend AIFF to bring in a presence of above 25 percent of the Eminent Players in the AIFF Executive Committee as Co-opted Members.”
The CoA’s response? To cock a snook at FIFA and inform the Supreme Court that it would add 36 eminent players to the electoral college.
This was on 3 August and based on their submission, the SC urged them to expedite elections with the 36 + 36 structure.
A pertinent point to note here is that removal of the players from the voters list is NOT a violation of the National Sports Code.
ESPN further notes that on 6 August, FIFA once again warned the CoA about this particular clause, this time raising the threat of suspension. It read, “should there exist serious deviations to the aforesaid roadmap [agreed upon earlier between the CoA, AFC and FIFA], we would submit the matter to our relevant decision-making body for further considerations and possible decisions based on FIFA Statutes including the suspension of the AIFF and the withdrawal of the hosting rights for the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India.” It added, “In this context we would like to recall AIFF’s statutory obligations applicable to all of FIFA and AFC member associations, including the obligation to manage its affairs independently and ensure that its own affairs are not influenced by any third parties.”
The CoA responded to this with assurances that “all izz well”. Less than a week later (13 August), though, they then published the names of the 36 ’eminent players’ who would be added to the electoral college. Two days after that, almost inevitably, FIFA suspended AIFF.
Two explicit warnings had been ignored in the lead up to the suspension. A simple solution was then found, one which conforms to Indian laws (and regulations) and FIFA’s statutes, in a matter of days.
The key takeaway from all this is that if the CoA had deigned to get off its high horse and “smell the coffee”, the AIFF suspension, the players losing rare playing opportunities, time and money being spent on litigation, emails, phone calls and all this stress – would have been avoided.
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