New Delhi: The All India Footbll Federation’s appeal committee has upheld the appeal of Namdhari FC, Real Kashmir and Churchill Brothers against Inter Kashi over re-registration of Mario Barco, judging that it didn’t comply with I-League regulations.
In its final order passed on Saturday, the appeal committee quashed the league committee’s earlier decision of letting him be a replacement for a fellow overseas player.
This judgement would result in a reshuffling of the final standings with four points deducted from Kashi, two added to Churchill’s tally and three more were given to Namdhari.
The appeal committee had earlier rejected Kashi’s plea against Namdhari over use of an ‘ineligible’ player to announce Churchill as champions. Kashi has challenged the decision at the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) where the matter remains subjudice.
The appeals committee said the order passed by AIFF’s competitions committee on February 21, 2025, will be enforced.
“The appeals are decided in favour of Appellant clubs and against the Respondent club by issuing the following directions: A. The order passed by the AIFF Competitions Committee dated 05.02.2025 shall remain operative, the same is quoted below:
“We have received the Foreign Player Replacement Request from your club via the CMSfor the I-League 2024-25 season. However, upon review, we regret to inform you that the request does not comply with Clause 6.5.7 of the I-League Regulations 2024-25.
According to the aforementioned clause, A foreign player can only be replaced by another foreign player by the respective Participating Club (in case an injury or an illness prevents such foreign player from continuing to play for the rest of the Competition or after mutual termination of contract) up to 3 (three) times in the Competition.
“The Participating Players can only be replaced with another within the time as notified by the A/FF and not beyond the same. As the player being proposed for replacement, Mario Barco Vilar, had previously been replaced due to injury, he is considered unavailable for the rest of the season as per the regulations.
“Therefore, he cannot be used to replace any other foreign player currently registered in your squad. As a result, the replacement request cannot be approved, as it fails to meet the regulatory requirements,” the appeal committee quoted the competitions department’s order.
“B. The result is that the AIFF Competitions Department has disapproved on 05.02.2025 for re-registration of Mario Barco. The AIFF League Committee order dated 15.02.2025 being non-est is quashed.
“C. In view of the above the impugned orders dated 28.04.2025/29.04.2025 passed by the AIFF Disciplinary Committee are quashed. D. As a result, of the Disapproval of AIFF Competitions Committee on 05.02.2025 the consequences shall follow. E. This order has been passed with the concurrence of the Shri Ashok Tripathi and Smt. Priyanka Mishra,” chairperson of appeal committee Rajesh Tandon said in the order.
Change in standings
In the provisional standings, Churchill had 40 points from 22 matches, a point more than Kashi, while Real Kashmir were third with 37 points.
After Saturday’s judgement, four points would be deducted from Kashi while two would get added to Churchill’s tally and Namdhari would get three.
Thus Churchill would rise to an unassailable 42 points and would be champions irrespective of Kashi’s appeal appeal at CAS. Kashi would drop to 37 points while sixth-placed Namdhari would jump to 35 points.
Kashi said they would appeal against the judgement as CAS.
“The Club is flabbergasted that such simple rules and regulations can be twisted and misinterpreted in such a manner through which the Club is now suffering without any fault of its own,” Kashi said in a statement.
“The Club fully believes that a free and fair hearing at CAS will bring all relevant facts to the forefront. There will be no further comment on this matter at this time.”