Anwar, East Bengal pay a big price for contract termination

PANAJI: The players’ status committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has handed a four-month ban to Anwar Ali after the India defender unilaterally terminated his contract with Mohun Bagan Super Giant and moved to bitter rivals East Bengal.
In a significant judgment which was delivered after considerable wait since the final hearing on Aug 22, the four-member panel said East Bengal and Delhi FC were both guilty of inducement.The two clubs have been banned from registering new players for two entire and consecutive registration periods, which means they can now register new players only in January 2026.
The committee also arrived at a conclusion that Mohun Bagan are entitled to a compensation of Rs 12.9 crore for which the three parties – Anwar, East Bengal and Delhi – shall be “jointly and severally liable.”
However, according to Anwar’s five-year contract with East Bengal, “in case there is any fine imposed, the buying club and the player will be liable for the same in the ratio of 50:50.”
Those who have followed the case since the start said sporting sanctions were inevitable once it was established that Anwar – contracted with Bagan till 2027 – terminated the contract without a just cause and then moved to East Bengal.
“If the committee had arrived at a finding of just cause, that would have been the end of the matter,” Savio Messias, deputy chairperson of the AIFF’s players’ status committee, said in his order.
“The contemporaneity of the transactions and the material on record suggest that both clubs and their officials acted in concert to ensure the player’s transfer to East Bengal, and therefore both may be seen as inducing clubs. The interested parties have failed to discharge the burden of proof. Accordingly, it is held that the interested parties are guilty of inducement,” states the order delivered on Tuesday.
Bagan were handed a big compensation of Rs 12.9 crore.
As per the panel’s calculation, the compensation includes the residual player contract value (Rs 8.4 crore), based on the average value of his contract with Bagan and subsequently with East Bengal – Rs 2.5 crore and Rs 3.1 crore respectively – for the remaining three years, remuneration paid by Bagan to Delhi for the loan agreement (Rs 2 crore) and other “objective criteria” including damage suffered by the club (Rs 2.5 crore) towards signing a replacement.
The order comes as a huge blow to Anwar, the 24-year-old ball-playing central defender, who will be out of competitive football for four months. He is ineligible to represent India as well.
According to the aggrieved parties, they will file an appeal before the appeals committee of the AIFF, and should they still not get a favourable verdict, will move to the court of arbitration for sport (CAS).
“We have already asked for the grounds of the decision,” said a senior official.