Tanisha Rana
Published on: August 27, 2022 at 17:47 IST
After the Supreme Court ended the mandate of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to handle the affairs of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), FIFA has lifted the suspension of AIFF.
As the ban on AIFF has now been lifted, India will be able to host the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022 scheduled to take place from 11th-30th October, 2022, as planned before.
The FIFA took this decision after it was informed that the mandate of CoA to handle the affairs of AIFF had been terminated and AIFF was not under the control of any third-party influence. FIFA stated that it will continue to monitor the situation and help AIFF in hosting the world cup in a timely manner.
A press release by FIFA’s media stated that, “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.”
On August 16, 2022, AIFF was suspended by FIFA with immediate effect citing the provision of “undue third-party influence”.
FIFA had released a press statement on August 16, 2022 stating that the AIFF’s suspension will be revoked once the order appointing the CoA to handle the affairs of AIFF was repealed and the powers to make decisions was given back to the AIFF’s Executive Committee.
The CoA was formed by an order of the Supreme Court stating that the CoA will work as an interim body to handle the affairs of the AIFF until the finalization of the draft Constitution was made and the elections to the AIFF’S Executive Committee was complete.
The CoA was constituted under the order of the Supreme Court following the removal of Praful Patel, Former Civil Aviation Minister from the post of AIFF’s President.
Due to FIFA’s suspension of AIFF, the union government had moved an application in the Supreme Court requesting to terminate the mandate of the CoA to handle the affairs of AIFF. Accepting the union government’s request, on August 22, the Supreme Court decided to end the mandate of CoA and extended the dates for elections of the AIFF’s Executive Committee.