AIFF technical committee recommends four foreign players in domestic league from next season

The All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) Technical Committee has recommended the recruitment of four foreign players for all domestic league matches after the 2021 season onwards.

The proposal was made during a video conference meeting of AIFF's technical committee, under the chairmanship of Shyam Thapa on Friday.

Besides Thapa, all other members including Deputy Chairman Henry Menezes, Prasanta Banerjee, Ganapati Palguna, Pradip Kumar Datta, Ishfaq Ahmed and Sundar Raman, and Abhishek Yadav attended the meeting from their respective residences. Meanwhile, AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das also attended the meeting.

During the meeting, it was unanimously recommended the implementation of three foreigners and one Asian recruit rule for all domestic league matches after 2021, as per current AFC regulations for participation in AFC Club competitions.

"However, if AFC changes this rule, the changes will be implemented for domestic league matches," the official statement said.

The committee also decided to wait for the approval of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) regarding the Players of Indian Origin (PIO) rule, which allows player of Indian origin to represent the country at present.

"The Committee also felt that it isn’t appropriate to discuss the PIO/OCI rule allowing players of Indian origin to represent India at present, and that it’s appropriate for it to be discussed at a later stage once clarity is provided by MYAS," the statement added.

The AIFF's technical committee was also briefed about the postponement of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup India 2020 by the FIFA-Confederations working group. Meanwhile, the future dates for the tournament haven’t yet been finalised.