FIFA committee to discuss Pakistan status today

KARACHI: FIFA Member Associations Committee will meet in Zurich, Switzerland, on Wednesday (today) to discuss various matters, including the status of Pakistan football, which has been rocked by legal disputes for the last few years.

FIFA has already confirmed that Pakistan’s matter will be discussed at the meeting. FIFA has also hinted that it intends to send a fact-finding mission to Pakistan which will include officials of FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Sources said that FIFA-recognised Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has also requested the world body to send a delegation so that it could see the ground realities. It is expected that in today’s meeting, the committee would recommend sending a joint delegation of FIFA and AFC to Pakistan to assess the situation. The schedule of the visit would then be announced by FIFA.

If would be the second time in almost four years that the world body would send a mission to Pakistan which has missed Olympic Qualifiers first stage at Uzbekistan because of the dispute.

FIFA still recognises Faisal Saleh Hayat as the PFF chief. On the other hand, a new PFF has been formed as a result of the Supreme Court-ordered elections held in December last year in Islamabad. Ashfaq Hussain Shah was elected as president of the new PFF which has also got control of the PFF headquarters and accounts.