Indian Football News: FIFA bans AIFF | India now can't host FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2022

At midnight of independence day, when the whole of India was sleeping with dreams; everything shattered for them just once. The biggest Indian football news came along the way as FIFA bans AIFF or the All India Football Federation.

"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," an official statement said.

"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once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFF's daily affairs," the statement added.

Why has FIFA banned the All India Football Federation?

After the Supreme court removed Praful Patel from the presidency post, they have given the full power to CoA to run the All India Football Federation. This is the first time in the association's85-year olf history that CoA will be taking care of the association. The Supreme court made CoA consists of Bhaskar Ganguly, SY Qureshi and Anil Dave.

Now, according to FIFA, this is a 'third-party interference' in football operations. Therefore it violates their rules and guidelines. That is why they have decided to ban the All India Football Federation.

Read Also: Is Indian football ready for a Sunil Chhetri retirement? Who can replace him?

What are the results of the FIFA ban on Indian football?

As per FIFA, "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."

So, this means till the ban gets lifted India will be barred from participating in any of the International matches. Indian National Teams cannot play any junior or senior international games across the two genders during the ban while Indian clubs cannot participate in AFC Women Club Championship, AFC Cup and AFC Champions League competitions. Moreover, India's chance of hosting the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2022 is under threat as well.

Read Also: Igor Stimac criticizes Indian Super League, claims 'ISL is comfort football'

When and how can the FIFA ban be lifted?

"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," the official statement from FIFA stated.

That means, till the time AIFF gets their full control back, the ban will continue.

Are there any instances when a country was banned by FIFA?

Yes, there have been a few occasions when FIFA banned football associations due to violations of their rules and regulations. The International Federation of Association Football is very strict with its rules. In 2014, they banned the Indonesian football federation for a year as there was a fight between the sports ministry and football association on who was in power to run the sport in the country.

Later in 2015, Kuwait Football Association was banned by FIFA after their government had taken the power of the football federation to exist independently. Just like India, Zimbabwe and Kenya were also banned by FIFA due to third-party interference.

For more latest Indian Football news, stay tuned with us.