POA offers to hold PFF elections

KARACHI: FIFA these days is in search of a new chairman for the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalisation Committee (NC) to replace Humza Khan who resigned from his post after having failed to live up to the billing.

There are various issues which have been impeding the smooth flow of the electoral process of PFF. On Tuesday Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Secretary General Khalid Mahmood said that the NOC had the capability to hold the PFF elections.

“If FIFA gives us the task of holding the PFF elections, we have the capability to do this job successfully through the assistance of our provincial associations,” Khalid told ‘The News’.

Sources told ‘The News’ that FIFA had contacted POA but Khalid said that they had not received any letter from the world body.

After the resignation of Humza, FIFA tasked Muneer Ahmed Khan Sadhana, a senior NC member, to act as acting chairman till the appointment of a new chairman.

Sources said that FIFA is interviewing many people for the coveted slot. FIFA has already given extension to NC until June 30, 2021, to hold the PFF elections.

On Tuesday, NC held a virtual meeting with the representatives of FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Various issues were discussed.

According to sources, the decisions taken by Sadhana recently were approved by the NC with consensus.

FIFA installed the NC for PFF in September 2019 with a nine-month mandate to hold elections at district, provincial and PFF levels. However, the NC under Humza failed to meet the deadline. The deadline was then extended until the end of last year but still nothing concrete was done towards the electoral process. And now another six-month extension has been given and it seems to be the last chance to resolve this longstanding issue.