CHENNAI: A day after it emerged that a two-member committee appointed by FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has proposed an Asian ban on Indian clubs if the AIFF fails to implement a unified league structure from 2019-20, AFC general secretary Dato’ Windsor John denied sending any such reports to the Indian federation.

He said it is too early to take such a step. “We have not communicated anything to AIFF yet. I don’t know which report has come out in the media. The work is still in progress and we are in the process of finalising the draft. We have not even set any deadlines yet. But I can tell you that it will still take another couple of months to have the final report ready. We will then have a meeting with top FIFA officials before sending out to AIFF,” Dato’ told TOI from Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

It was last year that both FIFA and AFC formed a two-member team comprising Alex Phillips (of AFC, seconded from UEFA) and Nic Coward (FIFA consultant) to assess the situation and chalk out a roadmap for a unified league in India. They went around the country, speaking to ISL , I-League and second division league clubs. According to sources, they had sent preliminary reports to AFC.

AIFF general secretary Kushal Das said that they are waiting for a detailed report. “For now, we can only wait for the detailed report to be tabled. When the issue about which will be the top league emerged, we had requested the AFC to help us in creating a roadmap. AFC agreed to send their consultants to discuss with the stakeholders. They were supposed to come up with an official report. I have not got any official report from AFC at all. These apparently could be recommendations, suggestions or discussion papers done by the consultants, who were appointed by FIFA and AFC to do this project,” Das said.

A top source said that a lot of legalities needed to be worked out before taking a final decision. “Even when the report comes, we will have discussions with all the stakeholders before taking a decision. We will need to see the legality, contract extensions and current provisions. Mind you, these reports are not final. The FIFA and AFC can only recommend. It is up to us to act on those recommendations. A final decision will only be taken by the AIFF Executive Committee after consulting with every party,” the source said.

