Sardar Naveed elected PFA president

KARACHI: Sardar Naveed Haider was on Saturday elected as president of Punjab Football Association (PFA) after convincingly beating his rival Rana Mohammad Ashraf.

The electoral meeting was held at the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) secretariat in Lahore on the instructions of the Supreme Court. The elections were held under the supervision of the Supreme Court senior advocate Ali Raza. As per information provided by Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), Naveed got 23 votes while Rana Ashraf secured 13 votes.

Naveed, also a former Director Marketing of PFF, vowed to work hard for the promotion of the game in Punjab.

“I will work hard with my team to develop football in every corner of Punjab which is brimming with immense talent,” Naveed said.

The PFF chief Faisal Saleh Hayat congratulated Naveed on the landslide victory. Naveed’s panel carried Shaikh Iqbal-ur-Rehman (Bahawalpur), Shaikh Khalid (Narowal), Raja Ishtiaq (Rawalpindi), Chaudhry Naeem (Vehari) and Rana Shaukat (Attock).

Meanwhile, it was also learnt that Rana Ashraf Group took part in the elections but it has serious reservations over certain points, also including the legality of the candidature of Naveed Haider. The group intends to inform the apex court with documentary proofs about the alleged irregularities in the electoral process, a senior member of the group told ‘The News’. In 2015 too, the PFA elections had turned controversial.