Goal.com

06-Dec-2012 12:19:00 PM

Permission is yet to be granted so that the twin World Cup stars from the 2002 edition can feature in the exhibition match this weekend in the City of Joy...

The Indian Football Association (IFA), the governing body for football in West Bengal, have requested the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to seek a special exemption to allow Roberto Carlos and Edmilson to feature in the Brazilian Masters versus IFA XI exhibition game on December 8 at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.

IFA, in a letter dated December 3, informed the organisers, without having crosschecked until Goal.com broke the story on December 4, of the game that given that the players contracted to play the exhibition tie haven’t retired in the last 30 months or so, they “would not require any permission from AIFF or AFC or FIFA.”

Roberto Carlos and Edmilson have retired on August 2012 and July 2011 respectively and hence if they are feature in the tie, a green signal from the governing body of world football ought to be taken at least 60 days in advance.

In fact the AIFF Executive Committee had passed a resolution last year that organisers of any exhibition game must seek their clearance at least a 100 days prior to the said date, which was ignored by the organisers.

On being asked as to whether permission for the exhibition tie to be held has been given, Kushal Das, the general secretary of the AIFF, said,” IFA has forwarded a request letter to seek a special dispensation from FIFA regarding the above mentioned players (Roberto Carlos and Edmilson). We have forwarded the request to FIFA and are awaiting their response. Our communication regarding the approval will be based on the response from FIFA.”

Kushal Das

Das added that it was too early for the AIFF to think of punishing those breaching the rules should the Brazilian duo in question feature for the Brazilian Masters without the permission from FIFA.

“I think it is premature to answer that question since a request for a special dispensation for relaxing the criterion has been sent to FIFA,” informed Das.

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