Indian court moves to settle issues that led to FIFA ban

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top court on Monday handed control of the national soccer federation back to its administration in an attempt to get a FIFA suspension lifted.

India’s Supreme Court had earlier appointed a three-member committee to manage the affairs of the All India Football Federation and to conduct elections for new office bearers by the end of August under a new constitution. However, that led to FIFA suspending the federation last week “due to undue influence from third parties,” which threatened the country’s hosting of the Under-17 Women’s World Cup next month.

The court on Monday scrapped the three-member committee and ordered that the day-to-day affairs of the AIFF be managed by its secretary general, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Top government officials had asked the court to settle the issue urgently.

The Indian federation is now expected to approach FIFA to get the suspension reversed.

The court in May ousted Praful Patel as president of the AIFF for not holding elections that were due by December 2020 and for continuing in the position past that date.

The FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup is scheduled for Oct. 11-30 with four games on the opening day, including host India against the United States and Brazil against Morocco in Group A.

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