Safdar group nominates Zahir Shah for top post

KARACHI: Captain Safdar group on Sunday night finalised president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Football Association Zahir Ali Shah as their candidate for the election of Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) president post which will be held on June 30, a reliable source told ‘The News’ on Sunday.
Till filing of this report, the meeting of the group was in progress in Islamabad.
Sources said that those present in the meeting were Capt Safdar, son-in-law of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former PML-N MPA from Mianwali Ali Haider Khan Noor Niazi, Zahir Shah, former PFF secretary and Jamat-e-Islami leader Hafiz Salman Butt and representatives of the armed forces, Police, WAPDA, Railways and Higher Education Commission.
The sources said that it was decided that the Punjab Football Association’s (PFA) president Arshad Lodhi, newly elected president of Balochistan Football Association (BFA) Abdur Rauf Nautezai and PAF’s Director Sports Shahid Nadeem would contest the elections for vice president posts.
The last date for submission of nomination papers is April 28.
PFF chief Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat has already submitted his nomination papers.
This will be the fourth successive time that Faisal will be trying to get elected.
He has been serving as PFF chief since 2003.