AIFF Presidential Elections on September 2, Nominations could be filed from August 25

The elections for the AIFF Executive Committee are scheduled to be held on September 2nd and nominations for the presidential position will be accepted from August 25th, an official has announced.

On Monday the Supreme Court terminated the Committee of Administrators (CoA) that was overseeing the functioning of Indian football. FIFA had found, a third party (CoA), taking over the AIFF as a non-abidance to the rules.  The fresh nominations are to be filled between Thursday and Saturday while the finalisation will be done on Sunday, August 28th. The valid nominations will be moved further to the final list on August 29th before the candidates will have time to take back their nominations.

The polling for the position will be held on September 2nd at the AIFF Headquarters in New Delhi with the results announcement coming on the same day or a day later.

Earlier, the governing body for World Football, FIFA had suspended AIFF (All India Football Federation) from International football citing “undue third party interference.”

Notably, the “third party” was the “Commission of Administrator (CoA)” assigned by the Indian Supreme Court to oversee the functioning of AIFF. The Supreme Court had to take this decision and dilute the AIFF as Praful Patel, the president of the organisation had overstayed his term as president.

The ban has had a domino effect on Indian football, as the rights to the upcoming Under 19 Women’s World Cup was snatched from the AIFF. Additionally, Vietnam and Singapore cancelled their friendlies with India Men’s football team citing “uncertainty” surrounding the board. Gokulam Kerala’s women’s team was also removed from the AFC Women’s club championship in Tashkent. The 23-member team was stranded in Uzbekistan’s city.

The upcoming AIFF elections are important for getting the FIFA ban removed as soon as possible. Currently, the AIFF is being run by acting secretory Sunando Dhar. As per the revised order, no “eminent footballers” will be allowed to vote as it violates FIFA Statuettes.