Ranjit Bajaj explains how FIFA ban can be a boon for Indian football

Indian football has spiralled to its lowest with the All India Football Federation getting banned by FIFA for third-party intervention.

Indian football has a notorious history of faulty administration and corruption. In recent times there has been a rise in fans' outrage and people speaking up against those sitting in power.

One of the names is the owner of Delhi FC and Minerva Academy, Ranjit Bajaj. He has been involved with Indian football for more than a decade and is known for his grassroots work.

The Bridge caught up with Ranjit Bajaj on the ongoing saga of Indian football and how this FIFA ban will affect India.

Talking to The Bridge, Bajaj said "FIFA ban is nothing just Praful Patel playing his cards to mess with AIFF. He is still a member of the FIFA governing council. Indian football has been in the mess since 2008."

"Praful Patel was civil aviation minister when he became AIFF president and to gain power in AFC and FIFA, he did some shady things. One of them is promising spots of Air India to foreign airlines in exchange for a prominent place in AFC and FIFA. It is all the game of votes", said Bajaj.

Explaining the corruption, Ranjit Bajaj didn't mince his words.

"I can tell you Indian football is plagued with corruption. No fan in India can claim that their state football association is not corrupt or no football player in India can say that they never faced any issue while playing. There are people in power for more than decades, and every state FA suffered from nepotism and then the introduction of ISL. The whole world football runs on the system of promotion and relegation but FIFA was okay with it not being implemented in India and this happened because the showrunners of football in India agreed to make it a private affair."

In May, the Indian Supreme Court appointed a Committee of Administrators (CoA) after it rejected the rule of Praful Patel as invalid, forcing him to step down.

The CoA was tasked with conducting elections and drafting a new constitution for the AIFF. A series of meetings followed after that ranging from the stakeholders of Indian football to the FIFA-AFC delegation and the football clubs involved.

The Supreme Court intervened again when there was a conflict between the number of eminent players in the AIFF executive council. FIFA termed this interference of the Supreme Court as third-party interference and banned India on the grounds of violation of the FIFA Code.

On the question of how CoA and Supreme Court handled it, Bajaj said, "FIFA is just being the bully here and acting stupid. FIFA is itself filled with corrupt politicians and they banned India despite India being one of the biggest markets and sources of revenue. India needs to stand strong and don't let anyone dictate the terms for us."

When FIFA banned India, it came as a big blow to the football fraternity as India is supposed to host U-17 Women's World Cup in October later this year and Indian clubs such as ATKMB and Gokulam Kerala Women's were deemed ineligible to take part in the continental competitions.

Can this FIFA ban be a wake-up call or a boon for Indian football?

Answering this question, the owner of Delhi FC says, "No ban can ever be good for India. Praful Patel and his whole administration are answerable to 1.3 billion people who they managed to fool for an entire decade. The fans were not getting broadcast of football matches, the clubs were suffering in lack of grass root tournaments, the girls were molested by monsters in the system and football was sold to FSDL. The basics were not being provided."

"I think after this ban, the concerned authorities should make a new constitution and a system of checks and balances which is so strong that no corrupt person can come back and fool everyone for a decade. The state FA should be under strict SOPs where if they don't do the bare minimum of development of football, they are gone. This is the only way forward for the bright future of Indian football," he concluded.

With Supreme Court terminating CoA and AIFF requesting FIFA to revoke the ban, the only hope which remains is a newly elected body of AIFF with a system which is well managed and less corrupt so that none of the stakeholders suffers again.