Kamal Ghorui
PANAJI: FIFA, the governing body for world football, has told the All India Football Federation (AIFF) it has “no objection” to elections being postponed from Sept to Dec 2026 to ensure full compliance of the constitution with the new National Sports Governance Act 2025 and its related regulations.AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey was elected on Sept 2 in 2022 for a fouryear term. Elections were to be held before the end of the term, but with the National Sports Governance Act 2025 coming into force, AIFF informed the governing bodies that it needs to stay in office till later this year “to ensure uninterrupted administration of football in India”.“On Dec 22, 2025, the ministry of youth affairs and sports issued a notice recognising that the structural changes required for all national sports federations to fully align with the NSGA are foundational in nature. In order to facilitate compliance with the provisions of the NSGA, the ministry of youth affairs and sports allowed a onetime extension to national sports federations whose elections are due in this calendar year, allowing such federations to conduct their next elections by Dec 31,” AIFF deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan wrote in a letter to FIFA and AFC last month.FIFA said it has no objection and reiterated its willingness to support AIFF throughout this process and to work closely together.“We kindly ask that you keep FIFA and the AFC informed of any further steps in the amendment process of the AIFF constitution, and in particular to share with us a document outlining the key amendments and necessary steps required with tentative timelines to ensure compliance with the NSGA,” Emile Doms, associations governance services manager at FIFA, wrote to the federation last week.Meanwhile, AIFF has asked its member associations to complete adoption of amendments to their constitutional document on or before June 30, 2026.
