CHENNAI: Around five months was all that it lasted. The announcement regarding the formation of the South West Asian Football Federation (SWAFF) under the leadership of Saudi Arabia had sent ripples through world football and in India as well. All the talk was regarding what Indian football would stand to gain from being part of Saudi Arabia’s power play to dominate Asian football and be a major player in FIFA. On Tuesday though, the seven countries that formed the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), announced that they had decided to pull out of the body.
“The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) comprising Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan unanimously decided to pull out of the South West Asian Football Federation (SWAFF) with immediate effect on Tuesday, 30 October 2018, in a meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,” the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced in a statement. “The withdrawal precedes the expected official recognition of AFC’s five Regional Federations by the AFC Congress on Wednesday, 31 October 2018.”
The development comes on the heels of reports that SWAFF head Adel Ezzat was going to challenge current Asian Football Confederation chief Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in next year’s elections. The 14-member SWAFF represented a significant vote bank for Ezzat, half the number required to win a majority in the 47-member AFC. Those plans are now in disarray. It was always expected that Ezzat’s decision to run against Sheikh Salman would not go down well the AIFF, whose president Praful Patel was elevated as AFC’s senior vice president by the Bahraini two years ago. Patel had also been one of the first to express support when Sheikh Salman had announced his intention to run for re-election two months ago.
The final line of the AIFF statement also reveals the carrot dangling in front of the body — AFC officially recognising SAFF could mean significant grants for it and other member nations. “SAFF is being recognised tomorrow by the AFC and FIFA. It does not make sense after that to have a new Association,” AIFF secretary Kushal Das told Express. There is also, however, the story of what could have been. When AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta was elected vice president of SWAFF in August, he had said that the body had promised to give the AIFF $500000 for the development of Indian football and that India will be taking part in the SWAFF Cup against the likes of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain.