Well, this is embarrassing.
Despite its size, India is not really a big name in world football. So the fact that their Under 17s side beat Italy 2-0 on Friday should be a cause for celebration. According to the
Hindustan Times, many Indian celebrities took to Twitter to congratulate the team, and the website of the AIFF, India’s football governing body, calling it “a historic moment for Indian football” and ‘”a brand new chapter in the Indian football history”. It’s especially notable as India are hosting the U17 World Cup in October.
https://twitter.com/praful_patel/status/865837577596686336
https://twitter.com/IndianFootball/status/865594349547016193
Only, that’s not exactly what happened.
India did indeed win the friendly match 2-0, but it wasn’t actually against the Italian U17 national side. It was in reality an ‘Italy Lega Pro U-17 Representative’ team, made up of youth players from teams playing in the third and fourth tiers of Italian football.
The AIFF managed to initially miss out this crucial fact, and just saying they’d beat ‘Italy’.
https://twitter.com/LGIcalcio/status/865555084729384960
The match was not mentioned on the Italian Football Federation’s website at all. Italian football journalist Emanuele Giulianelli told the Hindustan Time he was very confused by the reports:
It is very strange because there is nothing about this match in the Italian media. This team that played India U-17 is the Lega Pro national representative, and not the Italy U-17 national team.
According to
First Post, the AIFF are now saying that it was a paperwork error, and they thought they were due to play the genuine Italian national side. According to First Post:
The AIFF were sent a 'Tier 2' form — usually filled up between two nations when their youth teams will play an international match or a friendly — by the Italian federation. National teams need not fill the Tier 2 form for playing a friendly against a club. A 'Tier 1' form, on the other hand, is filled up between two nations when their senior national sides are to face each other.
They also claim that UEFA had granted Italy permission to play the game as an official friendly, and the Italian players were wearing the official kit.
Whatever the real explanation, this is definitely an embarrassing moment for the AIFF.
