India Football Coach, INSULTED! Khalid Jamil Denied Entry Into Kochi Stadium After Delay in Payment Dues

AFC Asian Cup qualifier: In a shocking move, India football coach Khalid Jamil was denied entry into the Kochi football stadium on Thursday. The incident takes place ahead of the national team’s AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong. There is no doubt that the incident has raised pertinent questions over administrative coordination. The Indian football team reached the iconic Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium for a scheduled press conference and that is when they were blocked. 

India Football Coach, INSULTED!

The players along with the coach were stopped at the gates by security staff of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA). The issue was a pending payment. 

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KFA president Navas Meeran spoke about this developing story. Meeran tactfully looked to downplay the incident. It labelled it as a minor technical problem and assured that the Hong Kong clash would go ahead as planned.

“The Asian Cup qualifier will go ahead as planned. What happened on Thursday was a minor technical problem, and it will be sorted out soon,” Meeran said.

The All India Football Federation also issued a statement on this matter. 

“The issue is that the Kerala FA (football association) was supposed to pay a certain amount to the stadium authorities to block the stadium for four days for the match. That’s why the authorities blocked entry," a source in the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said.

Not a First For GDCA

The GDCA has in the past seen such incidents take place. Not long ago, a presser of Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters FC was similarly disrupted during the current ISL season ahead of their match against Mumbai City FC last month.

Not just Jamil and the Indian players, even the journalists were denied entry. 

Jamil has named a 23-member squad for the final match. The Blue Tigers began their camp in Kochi on Tuesday.