FIFA's reprieve for India too late for Gokulam Kerala women

football fraternity breathed a sigh of relief as FIFA lifted the suspension imposed on the All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) after 11 days, but the decision came too late for Gokulam Kerala whose hopes of playing at the AFC Women's Club Championship were shattered. FIFA suspended the AIFF on August 15 for undue third-party influence leading to Gokulam Kerala being banned from the club championship -- a pilot tournament before the launch of the AFC Women's Champions League in 2024. The team, winners of the top-flight Indian Women's League, travelled to Uzbekistan to play their group-stage games in the championship's west zone, but were forced to return home due to the ban. "The news of the ban came as a shock to us in Uzbekistan," winger Kashmina Devi told Reuters on Sunday. "All players were really hurt... I haven't been so upset before. "The ban and the timing of lifting it is unfair to Gokulam Kerala because we had been preparing for the tournament for about two months."

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Gokulam Kerala, the reigning Indian Women's League champions, were the worst affected by the FIFA ban on the AIFF as the Kozhikode-based team was not allowed to compete in the top-tier AFC club competition in Uzbekistan.

Defender Michel Castanha said the suspension had left the team devastated. "I am happy that the ban has been removed, but it is heartbreaking that Gokulam Kerala could not play, our hard work has gone to waste," Castanha said. For midfielder Ratanbala Devi, it was the second continental tournament she missed this year after India were also kicked out of the Women's Asian Cup following a COVID-19 outbreak. "The ban barely lasted a