'All they can say now is say sorry. The club and the players had to face all the losses,' manager of Gokulam Kerala women’s team told South First.
AIFF Headquarters, New Delhi (AIFF)
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) apologised to the Gokulam Kerala football club on Saturday, 27 August, over their unfortunate exit from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) women’s championship in Uzbekistan.
The apology comes after the international football governing body FIFA lifted the suspension of AIFF on Friday.
The club had earlier written to the prime minister of India for his urgent intervention in the matter. However the Indian Women’s League champions, who had gone to Uzbekistan to take part in the AFC match, were asked to return by the government as discussions with the AFC and FIFA didn’t lead to any amicable solution.
AIFF, in its statement through a series of tweets, said: “#Indian Football is back on track again after FIFA lifted its suspension on AIFF on August 26. … It remains #IndianFootball’s greatest loss in the last 11 days, and Indian Football owes an apology to the talented girls who had trained so hard for this event.”
? AIFF Statement ?#IndianFootball is back on track again after FIFA lifted its suspension on AIFF on August 26. While we are happy with the turn of events, we are also extremely sorry for @GokulamKeralaFC‘s exit from the AFC Women’s Club Championship due to the suspension.
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) August 27, 2022
We request the players, staff and club management to remain strong, and we are sure that they will bounce back once again.#IndianFootball
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) August 27, 2022
South First spoke to Kevin Kishore, the manager of the Gokulam Kerala women’s team, regarding the apology from AIFF.
Gokulam Kerala FC women’s team players in training in Uzbekistan
(Twitter/ Gokulam Kerala FC)
He said: “All they can say now is sorry. The club and the players had to face all the losses. Beyond the financial loss faced by the club, we lost an opportunity to play in the AFC event. Looking at the calibre in our team, we could have won the championship.”
He also said that the club had requested AFC for the reimbursement of flight tickets of the team, but so far it has not received any response.
On 20 August, talking to South First, the club CEO Ashok Kumar who was in Uzbekistan with the team had said, “We all expected miracles to happen, but they didn’t happen, and it is a tragedy for us. However, from now on, I have to think about the next Asian Cup Championship and we will be moving towards that goal.”
On August 16, the women’s team of Gokulam Kerala was training for its debut in the AFC Women’s Club Championship in Uzbekistan when FIFA suspended AIFF citing “influence from third parties” — which is a violation of FIFA statutes.
By third-party influence, FIFA was primarily referring to the Indian Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA). This committee was terminated by the apex court later after a request from the Indian government.
The apex court had also directed that the day-to-day affairs of the football body were to be overlooked by the AIFF administration, headed by Acting Secretary General Sunando Dhar.
These two resolutions were communicated to FIFA by AIFF and an appeal to lift the ban was submitted to the Bureau of the FIFA Council.
On 26 August, FIFA in its letter to AIFF informed that the suspension has been lifted with immediate effect and that the Women’s U-17 World Cup, scheduled to take place on 11 to 30 October this year, can be held as planned.
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