CAS rules in favour of Inter Kashi over ineligible player controversy in I-League

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, upheld an appeal filed by Inter Kashi FC against a decision issued on April 18, 2025, by an independent appellate committee.

The CAS further set aside the decision issued by the Appeal Committee and upheld the terms of the decision of the Disciplinary Committee, dated February 24, 2025, which deemed Namdhari FC to have fielded an ineligible player in Match 45 of the I-League 2024-25 (Namdhari FC vs Inter Kashi).

The match, as per the terms of the decision of the Disciplinary Committee, was awarded as a 3-0 victory to Inter Kashi.

The AIFF followed the orders and implemented the decision of the Independent Committee, and will now follow the CAS orders and implement its decision.

Why Inter Kashi have filed an appeal before CAS

Churchill Brothers had finished with 40 points from 22 games at the end of the season, one more than Inter Kashi, and were set to join the Indian Super League (ISL) – the top division of Indian football – by virtue of being the I-League champion.

Inter Kashi, however, had played a game against Namdhari FC in which their opponents collected a 2-0 win while reportedly fielding an ineligible player. Kashi appealed against Namdhari fielding Brazilian forward Cledson Carvalho da Silva despite picking up four yellow cards prior to the game, which should have resulted in his suspension.

Namdhari thus were docked the three points they had collected following their victory, which were awarded to Kashi. Things, however, started getting complicated for all parties involved after Namdhari appealed against the decision before the Delhi-based governing body, claiming Cledson was fielded as the “AIFF CMS portal did not show the player was banned for the game".

Thus the 3-0 victory that was awarded to Inter Kashi due to Namdhari FC’s ‘forfeiture’ as a result of fielding an ineligible player was put on hold until the AIFF arrived at a final decision.