KRL to make footballers feel more secure

KARACHI: Sports manager of Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) Ayaz Butt on Friday said that his department is going to form such a structure which would make its footballers feel more secure.

“We are going to strengthen our structure and all our footballers will feel more secured,” he told ‘The News’ in an interview.

“They are still secure but we will make them more comfortable in future,” Butt said.

Since he took the responsibility as sports manager in 2006, KRL has won five Premier League titles and six National Football Challenge Cup crowns. They also competed in the AFC President’s Cup four times until 2014.

In its 2013 edition, KRL qualified for the six-team final round of the third-tier continental club championship.

Being Premier League champions, KRL deserved to feature in the AFC Cup qualifying play-offs last time but could not do so because of various reasons, including the AFC Club Licensing regulations.

KRL are currently Premier League defending champions as they won the 2018-19 Premier League for the record fifth time, surpassing WAPDA who have four crowns to their credit.

Football in Pakistan has been breathing with great difficulty due to prolonged legal conflict which resulted in FIFA appointing a Normalisation Committee for holding PFF elections, but KRL kept inducting fresh players.

“You will not believe that during the last National Challenge Cup in Peshawar we played a completely new team, comprising youngsters inducted into the side from different parts of the country. Only Izharullah and Umair were seniors in that squad,” Butt said.

KRL have been offering lucrative facilities to its footballers and Butt said that some of their footballers make more money than players in domestic cricket do.

“Our top footballers, if Premier League and Challenge Cup, are held, can earn more than Rs2 million in a fiscal year and in some cases they earn more than cricketers,” Butt said.