Pakistan set to miss 7th international football event

ISLAMABAD: The Normalization Committee (NC) of the Pakistan Football Federation Normalization (PFF) lived up to its reputation of missing out on international events as no entry was sent for the South Asian Junior Soccer Championship which kicks off in India in the first half of May.

The finalised draws for the championship see all six South Asian nations going head to head in two groups. Pakistan’s name, however, remains missing from the event which will be participated by India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Pakistan’s name was not there because no entry was sent yet again. For the seventh time in the recent past (almost in a year) the NC has not sent teams for international competitions. These include five men and two women events where Pakistan’s name and flag were seen missing.

These also include AFC Woman SAF Women U19 Championship (Bangladesh), SAF Women Under-16 Championship Nepal, AFC Men’s Under-17 Championship, AFC Men’s Under-20 Championship, SAF Men’s Under-20 Championship (Nepal), AFC Women Futsal Qualifiers (Indonesia), and SAF Under-19 Championship (India).

When one of the NC’s officials was approached to know the reasons behind this unprecedented sequence of misses, he first tried to pass the buck on the FIFA and then requested that he would come up with a proper answer.

Then an official response came. “The Pakistan U19 team couldn’t participate in the SAFF U19 Championship as elections were the priority, and it wasn’t part of the FIFA-approved activity calendar for the PFF. Moreover, due to short-term extension of two months and then the suspension, we were unable to comply with the deadlines on participation.” In other words, the miss occurred largely due to the reshuffle in the NC and later due to their engagement in the PFF elections.