All India Football Federation may rule in Abinash Ruidas’ favour in contract dispute case

The All India Football Federation may be about to rule in the favour of player Abinash Ruidas in the matter of his contract dispute with I-League club East Bengal, sources close to the situation have stated.

An official closely monitoring the dispute said, “It does seem like the Federation will rule in the player’s favour. There is no basis on which East Bengal may retain the player. The player only signed one sheet of paper, not the additional sheets that the club claimed he did.”

The Ruidas contract saga started when the Kolkata giants claimed that the 21-year-old winger had signed a contract extending till 2019 while the player himself was sure that his contract expired in 2017.

The Indian Football Association, the governing body for local football in West Bengal, had declared that the footballer would have to play for the Red and Golds after the winger was drafted for 18 lakhs in the ISL Draft by the Mumbai City FC franchise.

The player’s agent, meanwhile had lodged a complaint with the AIFF against East Bengal with Ruidas himself declaring that he would never play for the club.

Getting murkier

Lots of questions arise in the Ruidas’ case as the saga stretches on, getting murkier and murkier. Though the player is to be registered with the IFA in West Bengal on signing with a club based in the state, all I-League players have to be registered with the AIFF prior to the start of the season.

The AIFF claimed that they had received a one-year contract from the Kolkata club at the start of last season. When Ruidas rejected the club’s claims of an extended contract, East Bengal forwarded details of an extended contract to the IFA, not the AIFF.

The federation initially had claimed that they could not mediate in the matter, but after the draft, seemed to have changed their stance as general secretary Kushal Das wrote in to the IFA, citing the AIFF constitution which vests powers in the Player Status Sub-Committee to resolve all player disputes. Mumbai City FC also wrote to the AIFF, asking them to actively resolve this matter.

It was rather bizarre that the entire contract was not handed over at the same time. The AIFF had earlier declared its intent to make all player contracts publicly available, keeping in mind legal restrictions that may have arisen from such a move.

Finally, a resolution

The IFA seemed to have overreached beyond their jurisdiction in the matter and their continued interest in this case would appear to be unusual, for all neutral parties involved.

While all parties agree that he did sign on a blank sheet of paper, the player and his representatives claim that it was one and not the additional sheets that the club claims to have. According to the representatives, the other sheets of the “contract” seemed to have photocopies of the player’s signature and no mention of a stamp or a witness on them.

The case appears closer to a resolution with the AIFF now asking the IFA to turn over all documents to the central football governing body. All sides in the matter, including the player, will hope that the dispute is resolved once and for all before pre-season training takes over.