Gokulam Kerala FC write to PM Modi after 23 of club's women footballers stranded in Tashkent due to FIFA ban on AIFF

With the All India Football Federation (AIFF) currently facing a FIFA ban, Gokulam Kerala women's team are currently stranded at Tashkent in Uzbekistan and won't be allowed to participate in the upcoming AFC Women's Club Championship, starting on August 20. Taking to Twitter, the team revealed that they have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting for his help and intervention to revoke the FIFA ban.

The letter read, "Our club Gokulam FC is the current champion of India women's football. Having earned the distinction of becoming the champion club of India on May 26, 2022, we automatically qualified to play in the AFC women's championship on August 23 at Qarshi Uzbekistan."

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"Our team reached Tashkent from Kozhikode in the early hours of August 16. On arrival, we learned through various media outlets that FIFA has banned AIFF and the clubs are therefore no longer entitled to take part in any international competition until the suspension is lifted."

"Our first match is scheduled against Iran on August 23. We trained for 60 days to take part in this prestigious tournament. AFC sent a letter to AIFF stating that our club is no longer eligible to take part in the AFC Women's Club Championship. However, AIFF hasn't any e-mail of letter to our club anticipating that the ban will be lifted within a couple of days."

"23 of our players with an average age of 21 got grounded at Tashkent with disappointment coupled with distress as our preparation both mentally and physically went awry."

"We have been declared ineligible for no fault of ours. In the light of the above, we request PMO officers to intervene in this matter and make all efforts to revoke the FIFA ban and include us back in the AFC championships."

FIFA banned AIFF on Tuesday for 'undue influence from third parties' and also stripped India of the right to host the U-17 Womens World Cup.

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