PANAJI: In a first for Indian football, the player status committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has allowed Gurmeet Singh to unilaterally terminate his contract with Hyderabad FC on a just cause and make a move outside the transfer window.
The Hyderabad goalkeeper had complained to the AIFF about unpaid dues and sought urgent relief, after the club failed to pay his salary for multiple months.
During the oral hearing last week, Hyderabad representative Ranganath Budumooru and counsel for the club, Hemant Phalpher, did not dispute the termination, prompting the committee to give the green signal.
Gurmeet signed a long-term 4.5- year contract with NorthEast United on Saturday. “It’s truly special to be back where it all started for me,” the India under-23 goalkeeper said after completing his move.
According to FIFA’s regulations on the status and transfer of players, “players may only be registered during one of the two annual registration periods fixed by the relevant association.”
In India, the second transfer window of the season closed on Jan 31 but Gurmeet’s representatives pointed at article 6.3.A of the transfer rules which state that a professional who has unilaterally terminated their contract with just cause, or whose contract has been unilaterally terminated without just cause by
their club, may be registered outside a registration period.
“Gurmeet had played games for Hyderabad after the end of the transfer window but since he wasn’t being paid and it was a matter of his livelihood, the AIFF couldn’t turn a blind eye. There was a just cause for termination. After termination, he couldn’t have been left unemployed,” a senior official told TOI.
