Huge relief for Mohun Bagan as Odafa's ban extended by only one match

The last six weeks has been possibly the most difficult period in Mohun Bagan’s history but the Kolkata giants finally have some positive news as skipper Odafa Okolie avoided a lengthy ban for his violent behavior in the December 9 derby against East Bengal.

Odafa was shown a direct red card for his verbal assault on referee Vishnu Chauhan and thus earlier got an automatic two-match suspension and a fine of Rs 10,000.

But there were possibilities of a lengthy ban had it been found that Odafa’s actions were responsible for the crowd trouble in that match, but the AIFF disciplinary committee that met in New Delhi on Monday has imposed only an additional one-match suspension and a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh.

Odafa made his points to the disciplinary committee along with his agent and former great Chima Okorie and the AIFF stated in an official statement that the committee took the unconditional apology from the Mohun Bagan striker into consideration.

Mohun Bagan will now have Odafa, currently the most expensive player in Indian football, available again against ONGC on February 1. The Nigerian will however miss the next two matches against United Sikkim and Prayag United.

It will be interesting to see how other clubs react to this decision as arch-rivals East Bengal have already questioned the decision to revoke Mohun Bagan’s ban. It’s worth noting that Odafa’s annual salary is around 2.75 crore and thus the fine of 1.5 lakh might be considered meager by opposition teams.

The green-and-maroon brigade marked their return to the I-League with a 2-0 defeat against Salgaocar on Sunday and Odafa was badly missed. Hence, the decision of the disciplinary committee will come as a huge relief for the club and their supporters.