FIFA has threatened India’s football association that it may face a ban and also lose the upcoming Under-17 Women’s World Cup due to the “deviations” from an earlier agreed roadmap that was aimed to address the governance issues.

This week, the Supreme Court ordered the elections to the executive committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) will be held on Aug. 28 and the poll process will start on Aug. 13.

The court approved the timeline of the AIFF elections prepared by the Committee of Administrators which is currently running the affairs of the federation.

The elections of the AIFF were to be held by December 2020. They, however, were delayed owing to an impasse in finalizing its constitution.

Since May 18, the AIFF is being run by a three-member Committee of Administrators, appointed by the Supreme Court, which has also amended the AIFF constitution and will conduct the elections pending for over one and a half years.

FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) also sent a team, led by AFC General Secretary Windsor John, to India which met officials and laid a roadmap for the AIFF.

“Unfortunately, we have been informed that the Supreme Court’s hearing held yesterday on the situation of the AIFF allegedly resulted in deviations to the aforementioned roadmap,” said a letter written by FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura and Asian Football Confederation’s Windsor John. “If this is considered to be true, it would irrefutably jeopardize the mutual understanding which was displayed so far on the steps forward.”

In the letter, FIFA asked India to provide a transcript of the court’s decision by Tuesday (Aug. 9) for an “in-depth analysis.”

The letter further stated: “Upon receipt of the said documentation and following its in-depth analysis, should there exist serious deviations from the aforesaid roadmap, we would submit the matter to our relevant decision-making body for further considerations and possible decisions based on FIFA statutes, including the suspension of AIFF and withdrawal of hosting rights for 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India.”

India is hosting FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in October.

According to FIFA statutes, members must manage the affairs independently and ensure that its own affairs are not “influenced by third parties.”

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