PFF invited to attend meeting for formation of SWAFF

KARACHI: In a bid to make some further development regarding the formation of South West Asian Football Federation (SWAFF) Saudi Arabian Football Federation has invited presidents of football associations affiliated with the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) and South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) for a meeting on May 31.

A highly reliable source told The News that it was not known who would represent Pakistan in the meeting. “The PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat is in England in connection with his treatment and it is not known what decision he will take about attending the meeting,” the source said.

The first informal meeting of the proposed SWAFF had been held in Jeddah a few days ago. In that meeting held on the occasion of Kings Cup final in Jeddah representatives from football associations of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Yemen, Bahrain, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives took part. Nepal and Bhutan had not come due to various reasons. However sources said that they are expected this time to attend the meeting. Initially May 25 had been announced as meeting day but it was postponed. It had been decided that the next meeting would be held after FIFA World Cup which would begin next month in Russia. But the sudden change in plans shows the urgency of the situation.