AIFF suspend Gourav Mukhi until final decision is made

The All India Football Federation Disciplinary Committee (AIFF DC) has asked Jamshedpur forward Gourav Mukhi to be present at their main office on November 24 2018. The Indian International has a personal hearing regarding the age dissimilarity.

The board has decided to suspend him from attending any AIFF events until a final decision is made regarding his ostensible breach of fair play.

AIFF released a statement on the same:

"All India Football Federation (AIFF) Disciplinary Committee has summoned Jamshedpur FC player Gourav Mukhi for personal hearing at its head office on Saturday, 24th November 2018.

In the interest of fair play, the AIFF DC based on prima facie seriousness of the issue has put the player under ‘suspension’ from participation in any AIFF events until a final decision is reached."

The main debating point has been Gourav's age when he became the youngest goalscorer in the Indian Super League upon his debut goal for the Indian outfit against Bengaluru FC a month before.

Following this notice from the Indian board, Gourav Mukhi will be suspended for the game against FC Pune City which will take place at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex tomorrow.

Two days after the completion of that game, AIFF issued a notice that they would look into the contrariety reports. Indian board General Secretary Kushal Das said "We will pass on the matter to the relevant committees - the players status committee first or the disciplinary committee to look into the discrepancy regarding his age. The discrepancy is regarding his passport which shows that he is 2002 born and a statement he issued in 2015 which stated that he is 1999 born."

Three years before, Jharkhand's coach received a one-year suspension and the board was slapped with Rs. 1 lakh fine for playing five overaged players in the Sub-junior National football championship for Coca-Cola Cup in 2015. Gaurov Mukhi along with Laxman Sardar, Ashish Mukhi, Sayad Bin Abdul Kabir and Vikas Balmuchu divulged that they submitted false birth certificates to take part in the Under-16 tournament. The Jharkhand team was then disqualified from the particular competition.

Indian National camp called Mukhi and his other four teammates up for the Under-17 World Cup in 2015. But, they have reprimanded them from the squad following this age controversy.

Before the kick-start of this campaign, Gaurov Mukhi was extensively interviewed by the famous English publication Telegraph regarding his leaden-footed rise in Indian football. His age was supposedly mentioned as 28 in that article.