National team performing well in Asiad under foreign coaches

Faisal hopes Imran will take Pak sports to new heights

By Our correspondent

LAHORE: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) President Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has congratulated new Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and hoped that he will not only bring revolutionary changes in Pakistan sports but will also take them to new heights.

Talking to media here at the PFF Secretariat on Monday, Faisal welcomed Imran’s announcement of restoring the occupied grounds and building new stadiums.

“We direly need new grounds and stadiums to promote sports at rapid pace. More stadiums and better infrastructure will guarantee betterment in Pakistan’s sports while increase in number of football stadiums will attract the youngsters towards football, which is the largest played game of the world and has a phenomenal following in the country.” The PFF chief also demanded the Prime Minister to provide funds to the federation, so that they may bring quality and increased skills in Pakistan football. “We have enhanced the daily allowanced of our players and we want further raise in it, for which we are in dire need of financial support from the government, as well as private sector. I expect the government to release at least Rs 100 million grant for the PFF as it will help us achieve our goals gradually.”

He further said the young Pakistan football team has recently defeated 161th ranked Nepal football team by 2-1 in the Asian Games 2018 group D match. Faisal dedicated the victory to the players, coaches, football lovers and the entire Pakistani nation. “Regaining the control of PFF only in March 2018, we had very short time to prepare for the Asian Games, as we had faced three years illegal occupation of Football House and no activity, but the way the national coaches trained the boys and Pakistan team players gave their best performance, it has been a tremendous achievement.”

He added: “It is just start as we have started from scratch. We have more important tasks ahead including SAFF Championship 2018 and I am quite hopeful that with our sincere and collective efforts, we will succeed in bringing Pakistan football to new heights and soon we’ll improve our FIFA rankings. But for this, we need funds, support and interference-free environment, which are key to Pakistan football success”. The PFF President also clarified on the occasion that the international coaches have their own standards and set rules, which they follow very strictly and one of those was ‘no compromise on fitness’ and this was helping greenshirts a lot and helping in getting better results in Asian Games. “We have given all the powers to the head coach, who is responsible for the performance of the team. During the training camp, they observed strict physical fitness criteria for the national team players, which enabled them to build a strong squad for Asiad. But on the other hand, if any player didn’t come up to coach’s criteria and especially lacked physical fitness, he didn’t consider him.” Faisal thanked AFC for sanctioning 3 hundred thousand dollars for rebuilding of PFF secretariat which was destroyed during the 3 years occupation by non-footballers on behalf of the previous government. “We also are focusing on establishing academies all over the country. We also want to have grounds with astroturf, as it will help in making our players physically strong.” PFF chief also said that FIFA has asked the PFF to revise and amend its statues according to international bodies and also review the congress composition. “We are holding the PFF Congress to deliberate on the matter” Faisal has said.

Faisal also revealed that the PFF has requested Japan Football Association to provide a coach to train Pakistan women footballers.

About Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL), he said: “We want to bring revolutionary changes in Pakistan Premier Football League, as we have planned to include at least two to three international players in the teams, which will make the league more competitive and enthralling.”