CoA submit final draft of AIFF's constitution to the Supreme Court for approval

The Committee of Administrators (CoA), who are currently responsible for the day-to-day running of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), has submitted their final draft of AIFF's constitution to the Supreme Court of India on Friday.

The committee was formed after AIFF failed to hold independent elections for a very long time.

AIFF acting general secretary Sunando Dhar said, "After a lengthy set of discussions with various stakeholders, the draft Constitution of the AIFF has finally been submitted to the honourable court.

"I would like to congratulate everyone involved in the process, on this swift move forward, and hope that with the new constitution in place, we can move ahead with developing Indian football."

The CoA comprises of Justice (retired) Anil R Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner of India Dr SY Quraishi and former India captain Bhaskar Ganguly.

"After a lot of deliberation, we have finally narrowed down on a draft constitution that would put the AIFF in line with the National Sports Code, as well as help it function efficiently as a member association of the FIFA and the AFC," said Quraishi.

"We are confident that with these set of changes, the federation will now be in a good position to guide Indian football further ahead."

Justice Dave stated, "We have taken into consideration all the stakeholders involved in Indian football and their respective valued point of views over the newly-framed constitution.

"We also received some suggestions from football lovers across the country and studied them minutely and seriously. I wish all parties involved the very best as we all try to take the beautiful game forward in India."

Bhaskar Ganguly added, "The amount of work that has gone into the draft constitution is indeed commendable and I sincerely thank everyone involved on it's completion. We hope that with these new changes, football in our country will keep growing further than ever before."

The AIFF has already been given a September 15 deadline by a FIFA-AFC team on June 23, failing which India could potentially lose it's hosting rights for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup to be held from October 11 to 30.