Hyderabad FC's misery doubles as AIFF imposes new transfer ban

Compounding Hyderabad FC's misery further, the player status committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has imposed a two-transfer window ban on them, barring them from registering new players. This is after the club failed to clear former defender Adil Khan's dues, amounting to INR 1 crore.

Having failed to get a response from De Grande Sports Pvt Limited, the owners of Hyderabad FC, on the complaints of his salary not being paid in full from September 2022 to January 2023, Khan escalated the matter and complained to the AIFF. For the unversed, the central defender signed a three-year contract with Hyderabad FC on June 1, 2020.

Adil Khan reminded the club that he can terminate his contract with just cause and immediate effect as they had unlawfully not paid his salary for two months. He even sent a 15-day notice period to the owners of Hyderabad to comply with their financial obligations.

Godfrey Pereira, chairman of the player status committee of the AIFF, said:

“Due to repeated failures of the Respondent (Hyderabad FC) to pay the dues on time, the committee is of the view that this is an aggravated form of offence. Thus under Article 14.4 of the Regulations, the Respondent will be banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the entire two registration periods, which will take effect immediately.”

"If the respondent clears all the dues, the ban may be suspended in accordance with Article 14.6 of the Regulations," he added.

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How can Hyderabad FC get themselves out of this mess?

Hyderabad FC have been asked to pay Adil Khan INR 1 crore as well as an interest of five per cent per annum. If they manage to do so, the transfer ban will be lifted and they will be free to register new players again.

Meanwhile, this ban comes on the back of one recently imposed by FIFA upon them based on the complaints from former Spanish midfielder Nestor Gordillo. However, after the Yellow and Black Brigade cleared the dues they owed to Gordillo, this ban was lifted.

Unfortunately, the one imposed upon them by AIFF still stands, and this means that they will not be allowed to register any of their new signings Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, Joe Knowles, Jonathan Moya, Petteri Pennanen, Makan Chote and others until Adil Khan's dues get cleared.