All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Kalyan Chaubey welcomed the government’s stance to encourage players of Indian origin living abroad to play for the country. Chaubey said it was a ray of hope for bettering the national team’s performance.

The new Khelo Bharat Niti (National Sports Policy), which got Cabinet approval on July 1, saw the government change its stance on OCI players as the earlier stand was that only Indian passport holders can represent the country.

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AIFF president Chaubey said that the organisation will continue to work with FIFA and the government to do all things to strengthen the national team.

“When it comes to the performance of the national team, one of the areas of the policy is something we have worked on actively — the access to India’s diaspora talent and I am happy that the policy included reference to the matter,” Chaubey said a statement.

“This is a positive statement of intent and the AIFF will continue to work with FIFA and the government to do all things possible to strengthen the national team.”

“For some years, there has been a clamour for the inclusion of players with OCI cards in the national team. We’ve seen countries like Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Hongkong, Singapore, the Middle Eastern Nations, and those in Europe take advantage of Naturalised Players with dual citizenship to strengthen their teams.”

Chaubey comments on possible hurdles

Despite this, Chaubey admitted that there are a few hurdles in terms of taking advantage of the policy. The AIFF president said that some clarifications will be needed in the Indian context as the OCI card is not equivalent to an Indian passport.

“Some clarifications in the Indian context might be helpful at this stage. As per the FIFA Statutes, a player must hold a passport of a nation he or she wishes to represent and must produce it on match day,” he said.

“While an OCI card grants certain social and economic rights to an individual, it is not equivalent to an Indian passport. Given that our laws do not provide for dual citizenship, it is up to us strategies how we may capitalise on the opportunity to access the diaspora talent and integrate them into the national teams as per the FIFA regulations as well as Indian citizenship law.

“The policy direction provides a ray of hope and we are intent on exploring it to its logical conclusion,” he added.

The Indian national team is set for a revamp after a string of poor results that saw Manolo Marquez leave his post as the coach.

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