KARACHI: Pakistan’s premier football goalkeeper Saqib Hanif is lucky to have been playing in the Maldives League for the last six years — a time when the country’s other footballers suffered a lot for lack of activities because of the conflict among officials.
“Yes, I am the lucky one as I have played in the Maldives’ Dhivehi Premier League for the last six years. It gives you confidence and keeps you fit,” Saqib told ‘The News’ from Maldives on Wednesday.
Saqib’s team Green Streets finished third in the Maldives League 2020-2021 which spanned over a period of six months.
Saqib’s performance remained good. He joined his club in December 2020 after it had played two initial matches which it had lost. And Saqib did well for the club. He played 12 matches of which he got six clean sheets and it helped the side finish third on the points table.
“Thanks God I did well. I got six clean sheets,” Saqib said. “I joined the club after a couple of matches as I was busy with the SSGC team during the National Football Challenge Cup where my performance also was good,” he said.
Saqib is set to return home as the season has completed and the Maldives is battling against Covid-19.
“Yes, the league was held in an unusual situation,” Saqib said. “Fans were not allowed to witness the games. When we entered the pitch we used to get a sanitiser shower and we used to do warm-up separately. It’s good that there were very good facilities and the league was arranged well,” Saqib said.
On return, Saqib will join SSGC camp at Karachi as the team is preparing for the Premier League.
The league is being arranged by the Ashfaq Hussain-led PFF which is not recognised by FIFA.
Pakistan was suspended by FIFA after the Ashfaq group occupied the PFF secretariat in Lahore. The world body has said that the suspension would be lifted only when the Normalisation Committee got access to the PFF headquarters and accounts.