The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Wednesday climbed down from its earlier directive and said it is not mandatory for Indian Super League (ISL) clubs to sign Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders.
In a June 20 media statement after its Special General Body Meeting, the AIFF had said it had “proposed and approved that in the ISL and the (second tier) Indian Football League (IFL), clubs may field a starting eleven comprising three foreign players and one OCI player”.
But, addressing a press conference to announce AIFF’s agreement with ISL teams on a club-led model of running the top-tier league, deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan said the signing of OCI players was optional.
Satyanarayan also said that its earlier instruction to the clubs to ensure one Indian striker remaining on the field for the entire 90 minutes of the match was also optional.
“As of now, we are telling the clubs that we encourage you, if you want, please enlist OCI players to play in the league. Other than that, there is no change in the way they (the clubs) get their players,” Satyanarayan said.
“There are six foreigners, they can get some OCI players to play. And AIFF doesn’t interfere in telling the clubs what to do. That was the overall statement which they made.”
If any club signs an OCI card holder, he would be considered as part of the foreign player quota.
Regarding the background of the AIFF’s decision, Satyanarayan said, “When the sports ministry put out that NITI document for sports (Khelo Bharat Niti 2025), they said they would love to utilise all the OCI cardholder Indians to come and represent the country.
“But as far as OCI players playing football is concerned, FIFA has got its own rules. AIFF president (Kalyan Chaubey) has been behind this for the last more than a year and lots of correspondence have gone, meetings have happened and the government is working on it.
“Now this is a government decision which has to be taken at the central level, it is a cabinet decision. So, as and when something comes from the government with regard to OCI players, we will implement it.
“We just set out the broad outlines. It is up to the government. As and when any direction comes from the ministry, we will implement it, maybe from the subsequent season.
He said under FIFA rules, a player will have to have the passport of the country he is representing on the day he plays.
“The day you play for your country, you must have the country’s passport. Now he has got an Indian passport,” Satyanarayan said regarding Australian-born Ryan Williams playing for India.
