Appointment of members to normalisation committee

KARACHI: A two-member FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) delegation on Thursday reached Lahore to conduct interviews for appointing members to the normalisation committee for the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF).

According to sources, the two-member delegation comprising Senior Manager MA Governance and Services FIFA Alexander Holt and Senior MA Manager AFC Purushotam Kattel will start interviewing the people nominated by the two factions of PFF from Friday (today).

Two members from each group will be picked for the committee. Its chairman will be appointed by FIFA from outside the lists submitted by both the factions.

The members of the delegation were also part of the fact-finding mission of FIFA and AFC which visited Lahore in May this year to hold meetings with all stakeholders.

The sources said that two persons would be interviewed daily. The delegation will return on August 20.

They said the names of the selected individuals would be announced in the first week of September.

The committee will run the day-to-day affairs of Pakistan football, conduct club scrutiny, and hold elections at the district and provincial levels, before going for the PFF elections. The committee will have to complete its task within nine months of its appointment.

‘The News’ has learnt that it may not be possible for the committee to organise Premier League but it would definitely ensure Pakistan’s participation in international events.

The sources said that for undertaking the task the committee would need accounts and even PFF headquarters as both are in possession of the Ashfaq Hussain-led PFF which was formed as a result of the Supreme Court-ordered elections in December last year.

The Ashfaq-led PFF has nominated Sardar Tariq, Taha Ali Zai, former PFF secretary Col Mujahid Tareen, Sohaib Hassan, Faisal Mirza and Asim Dogar.

Khalid Latif and Saeed Khan are among the persons whose names have been submitted by Faisal’s group.

Because of the dispute Pakistan’s football suffered for the last four years. The nation even faced FIFA sanctions in late 2017. The ban was lifted early last year which enabled Pakistan to return to international circuit.

Due to the issue Pakistan also failed to conduct its Premier League three times.

This year Pakistan failed to field its team in the Olympic qualifiers in Uzbekistan.

However, due to the outgoing PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat’s efforts, Pakistan featured in World Cup qualifiers first round against Cambodia. The Green-shirts, who trained in Bahrain, lost in both the legs held in Cambodia and Doha.