Now, FPAI moves to the Delhi Court against the AIFF !
Football Players Association of India (FPAI) has moved to the Delhi High Court on Tuesday, alleging that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) deliberately avoided including them in its upcoming annual general meeting, according to a report from News9 Sports. The former football players claimed they made repeated requests for representation in accordance with the newly adopted constitution, but these were ignored by AIFF. FPAI referred to Article 20.2 of AIFF’s new constitution, asserting that their urgent appeal is in response to what they perceive as the Federation’s intentional and arbitrary attempt to remove FPAI’s status as the recognized national players’ association ahead of the AGM. As per the Supreme Court-approved constitution, AIFF is mandated to form the NPA, inclusive of 15 “eminent” players, who will have voting rights in its general body. Since they are the only representative body of players in the country with the strength of 550 active members, FPAI requested AIFF for inclusion in the AGM on 2nd December. As FPAI received no clear response, they have now argued that AIFF is creating a deception of neutrality so that players remain voiceless in the 20th December meeting, where several crucial agendas are scheduled to be discussed, which are related to footballers’ welfare. The AIFF issued a formal notice for its AGM on 20th November, but sought applications for NPA, national referees’ association (NRA) and national coaches’ association (NCA) only on 12th December, with a deadline for submission open till January 11, 2026. “The timing and manner of such exclusion clearly indicate the oblique motive of the Respondents (AIFF and its president Kalyan Chowbey to frustrate the representation of players in the AGM and obfuscate their vote. This is in direct breach of the express provisions of the AIFF Constitution, particularly Article 20.03 and the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgment,” FPAI said in its appeal, which will be heard on Wednesday.
FPAI ties up with Rapid Sports Fitness for the footballers’ rehabilitation program
Looking forward to the health and welfare of the current and former Indian footballers, the Football Players Association of India (FPAI) has signed an MoU with Rapid Sport Fitness (RSF), based in Bengaluru. The amalgamation has been made primarily to provide high-quality rehabilitation services to players nationwide at an affordable rate. Citing an example, FPAI president Mehrajuddin Wadoo revealed, “If an RSF charges from a footballer Rs 2000 normally, then FPAI card-holder footballers will get the same treatment at a discounted rate of around Rs 600 or Rs 700.” FPAI has more than 500 card-holding footballers across the country currently. Interestingly, the organisation is also going to make a similar amalgamation with a Kolkata-based rehabilitation centre for the Kolkata-based footballers exclusively. Mehrajuddin added, “Not only the footballers of the p/resent generation, former India internationals like Alvito D’Cunha, Mehtab Hussain, have also been given FPAI cards so that they can also avail the modern system of rehabilitation program from this rehab centre.” A couple of renowned Indian footballers like Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Chinglensana Singh, Ashalata Devi, and Sweety Devi were present at the recently held MoU signing event. They expressed strong support for the initiative and encouraged FPAI and other stakeholders to continue introducing such essential programs for the advancement of Indian football. Significantly, RSF has also been working with the men’s senior national football team as well as the women’s national team for the last couple of years
