Why the FPAI is telling Indian football players to stand down on signing for any team for now

A STRONG MESSAGE has been sent out to the Indian football players by the Football Players Association of India (FPAI) who have asked them not to sign for any team for the next season right now.

The FPAI, which is headed by former Indian international player Renedy Singh, is a national union for professional football players in the country. And today they advised all players not to join any I-League club or ISL franchise until the roadmap regarding Indian football league structure is made clear.

The FPAI has raised multiple objection about the way players' rights were trampled by the organizers of the private tournament Indian Super League, which AIFF are proposing will run in parallel to I-League in the 2017-18 season.

When FPAI issued a statement criticizing ISL's proposed return to the Draft system which leaves a player unable to negotiate his salary and pick which team he plays for, they received a sharp response from AIFF who said FPAI is not recognized as an official players' body by AIFF. But FIFPro, the world union for football players, did strongly back FPAI in this.

And yesterday, when AIFF called for an all-stakeholder meeting to decide the Indian football league structure roadmap on 7th June in the presence of FIFA and AFC officials and representatives of ISL franchises and I-League clubs, representatives of FPAI were also invited to the crucial meeting. 

And right after that, the FPAI has requested players to hold off on signing for any team as of now. It seems they are anticipating that which league will be the top division and which teams will play in which league is still not a done deal and the situation can change as per decisions taken at the 7th June meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

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