Forget Chettri, Jhingan — FIFA ban will destroy careers of youngsters: Former India star Mehtab Hossain

"Not at all right," replied Mehtab Hossain instantly about the the timing of FIFA ban on All India Football Federation (AIFF). The Bridge caught up with the former Indian international footballer and spoke about the unfortunate ban imposed on the country's apex footballing body.

A busy and exciting Indian footballing season laid ahead, which has now been halted, and possibly wiped clean, because of the ban.

"The Asian Cup was there, U-17 Women's World Cup was around the corner, ISL was upcoming, even AFC Champions League was near. There's nothing more shameful than to get a ban at such a pivotal period for Indian Football," Hossain said.

The CoA, along with the list of eminent footballers are scrambling to get to an amiable solution at the earliest for the betterment of the country's footballing future.

Mehtab, who hung his boots back in 2019, believes this mess has a simple solution.

"The best thing to do would be to hold discussions with FIFA and get done with the AIFF elections as soon as possible," Hossain suggested.

The ban has dealt a big blow to the youth teams of India who were scheduled to play a lot of tournaments with the U-17 Women's World Cup being at the forefront of them all.

"People are talking about the careers of Sunil Chhetri, Sandesh Jhingan, Pritam Kotal, but they have achieved a lot in their careers. The same people fail to understand that the lives of the young players, who are yet to start their careers, will get destroyed because of this," a concerned Mehtab said.

"It saddens me and it hurts me to see the kind of people who have the future of our young footballers in their hands," he concluded.