Football officials likely to unite against FIFA-installed committee

KARACHI: Football stakeholders of the country are set to forge unity to put pressure on the FIFA-installed PFF Normalisation Committee to hold the PFF elections instead of focusing on events and foreign tours.

Sources in various provincial and district associations say that the NC under Haroon Malik is not treating them fairly.

“Football at the associations level has been damaged and we cannot tolerate any further delay in the PFF elections,” a source told ‘The News’.

Former PFF president Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah the other day held marathon meetings with stakeholders in Karachi and other cities of Sindh. It is expected that a high level meeting of the stakeholders will be held in Islamabad in a few days to decide the future action plan against the strange approach of the Haroon-led PFF NC which is supposed to conduct elections by June 30 this year.

Sources said it is likely that Ashfaq-led former PFF will regain its administrative control from the NC. Ashfaq in 2018 was elected as the PFF chief in elections held under the apex court decision.

However, the same body handed charge to the FIFA-installed NC in September 2019 on the condition that the NC would conduct fair and transparent elections.

Sources said Haroon is interested in taking mandate from FIFA to revise the PFF statutes which is not the job of NC.

Sources said in no international sports law an individual can change the statutes. Sources said it is the Congress or general body which can do that. Even the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declares the general council of its associations as supreme authority to make amendments to the constitution.

Sources said FIFA should know that Pakistan is a very complex country and its football texture is also very complicated. It needs stakeholders full involvement in the resolution of the conflict.

Sources said the way the National Women Football Championship is being organised reflects how little football knowledge the PFF NC has.

Sources said that every stakeholder who has held a meeting with Haroon Malik is dissatisfied with his (Haroon) body language.

Haroon the other day told reporters here at the KPT Stadium that the PFF elections roadmap would be unveiled in the first or second week of April.

Sources said the roadmap is ready and can be unveiled by the end of this month, stressing NC’s main purpose is to disclose it at a time when Ramadan will begin and stakeholders will also have no time to react promptly and effectively.

Sources said without the consent of the stakeholders, NC and FIFA should not take any step which could be disastrous for Pakistan’s football.

Sources also stressed that the NC would be made accountable for every single penny it is spending on unnecessary events.

Sources said NC’s training programme for the national senior team’s preparations for the SAFF Cup to be held in Bangladesh in September this year also has several loopholes.

FIFA in September 2019 installed NC under Humza Khan, giving it a nine-month mandate to hold the PFF elections until June 2020. However, it failed to meet the deadline. Its mandate was extended until December 31, 2020, and again NC could not do anything. After the resignation of Humza, FIFA brought in Haroon who is a Canadian national.

Sources said stakeholders would not tolerate any delaying tactics on the part of the NC anymore.

Sources said only the elected body can work for football development as it has not only the full four-year mandate but it also has its provincial associations who contribute to football development.