The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Friday reiterated that Michael Chopra will be eligible to represent India only if the Cardiff City striker surrenders his British passport for an Indian one.
The Indian-origin player, on Thursday, again expressed his willingness to represent India, and the AIFF said Chopra's agent has been told about the criteria he needs to fulfill to represent the country.
"As far as India is concerned, he can't be a dual passport holder. He can play for the country only if he surrenders his British passport and becomes an Indian passport holder," said AIFF general secretary Kushal Das.
"His (Chopra's) agent has been told that he will have to have an Indian passport," Das added.
Nominated as one of the contenders for the British Asian Sports Personality of the year, Chopra said, "I'm still following my football dream at Cardiff and hope to step up to the international stage by representing India."
Prior to the Asian Cup in Doha, there was a lot of buzz around Chopra representing India in the continental event, and the striker also witnessed Bob Houghton's boys train at their base in Abu Dhabi besides holding talks with AIFF officials.
Meanwhile, the AIFF is planning to inform the home ministry and the sports ministry about hackers damaging its website.
Hackers in Pakistan turned the entire AIFF homepage into a propaganda message board before the AIFF officials got in touch with the Canadian company hosting the website and blocked the offensive content.
"This was the second time it happened. The site has been restored, but we are planning to bring this to the notice of the sports ministry and the home ministry," Das said.
"We are getting some external help to see how this can be avoided," Das said.
