Sindh Super League facing delay

KARACHI: Sindh Super League, an eight-team football event, is facing delay due to various reasons.

According to sources, the league was scheduled to begin from January 9 here at the KPT Stadium but faced delay as the organisers failed to execute the plans due to some politics and misguidance from internal elements at various stages.

Sources said the event had been approved by the Sindh government last year on the request of Pakistan's seasoned striker Kaleemullah who is the convener of the tournament.

Sources said that the idea to bring in foreign players also caused the delay as most refused to come due to Covid issues.

It is a Rs60 million project.

Sources said that the involvement of political actors led to complications in organising the league, which will be the first of its kind in the province. Sources revealed that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and special assistant to CM for sports Arbab Lutfullah were expected to meet on January 6 but they have not yet met.

"Hopefully some positive decision will be made in the meeting between the two," a highly credible source, privy to the developments, said.

A fine format has been prepared for the league. Of the eight teams, three will be from Karachi and five from other cities of the province.

There will be two groups of four teams each and the leading two sides from each group will make it to the semi-finals. There will be total 16 matches which will be telecast live. Each team can have six international players. There should be at least four international players in a team in every match.

But interior Sindh's teams will not pick Karachi-based international players. They can pick players from the rest of Pakistan.