India had just finished celebrating the 75th anniversary of its Independence when the country had an ignominious first. Fifa, the world governing body of football, late on Monday, Zurich time (early hours of Tuesday in India), slapped a ban on the All India Football Federation (AIFF) “for third-party interference” and took away the country’s rights to host the Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

The Indian federation is being run by a three-member committee of administrators (CoA) appointed by the Supreme Court on May 18. The top court disbanded the earlier body helmed by Praful Patel, who was continuing in the post in spite of his 12-year term having ended in December 2020. The CoA has as its members former apex court judge AR Dave, former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi and former India captain Bhaskar Ganguly.

“The Bureau (Fifa Council) decided on 14 August 2022 to suspend the AIFF with immediate effect due to flagrant violations of the FIFA Statutes,” Fifa said in an email letter dated August 15, 2022, and signed by its secretary Fatma Samoura.

The letter is addressed to Sunando Dhar, acting secretary of the AIFF. This is the first time that the AIFF has been banned by Fifa in its 85-year history.

The suspension, according to many watchers of Indian football, was “inevitable” after the Fifa/AFC (Asian Football Confederation) sent a joint letter on August 5 citing serious deviations from the agreed roadmap. Fifa-AFC had raised questions about the August 3 Supreme Court verdict which laid down the modalities for the elections to the AIFF general body. One of the issues is the appointment of 36 former players to the electoral college, a decision Fifa said violated its constitution.

The Fifa order is also a blow to the Narendra Modi government. On July 28, the Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, had approved the ‘Signing of Guarantees’ required for hosting the U-17 Women’s World Cup in India, scheduled for October.

Fifa said the ban will be lifted only after the “repeal of the CoA mandate in full” and once the federation administration is “fully in charge” of its daily affairs.

There is hope, though. Fifa said it “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”.

All eyes are, therefore, on the Supreme Court. The Centre on Tuesday urged the court to take up for hearing its petition for modification of the May 18 order appointing the CoA to run the federation. The court will hear the matter on Wednesday.

In its letter, Fifa has listed the reasons behind the suspension. “AIFF had been ordered to hold elections (i) prior to the adoption of a new constitution, as the finalisation of the latter would take more time; (ii) for an interim mandate of three months, until the new constitution was finalised; (iii) based on the national sports code and art. 26 of the “draft” constitution; and (iv) with the defined electoral college reshuffled in order to include players. In addition, the Bureau understood that the CoA would still play a role within the aforesaid interim mandate,” the letter says.

The suspension means India or Indian teams can no longer take part in international competitions.