KARACHI: The rules for the next year’s elections of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) were on Wednesday approved in its Congress meeting held in Islamabad which was also attended by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa.
The AFC chief will also witness the final of the 3rd SAFF Women Football Championship which will be held between India and Nepal at Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad on Friday (tomorrow).
PFF secretary Col Ahmed Yar Lodhi told ‘The News’ after the meeting that as per scheduled process of the next year’s elections which has been approved by Congress, elections in the districts will be held in March, in the provinces in April while the elections of the federation will be conducted in July. The PFF chief Faisal Saleh Hayat will contest the elections for the fourth successive time.
Also approved by the Congress include the next year’s activities calendar, audited accounts of the last financial year and amendments in the PFF constitution which had been made under the directives of the AFC.
Pakistan football coach Mohammed Shamlan of Bahrain also briefed the participants about what he had done during his stay as the country’s coach.
Shamlan said that the team had made a marked improvement under his supervision as a coach and added that effort would be made to provide more exposure to the outfit in future.
He said that it was not Under-23 team but a senior Pakistan team and he hoped that it would develop with the passage of time.
Shamlan has been serving as Pakistan coach since August 2013. The next year will be a testing period for the former Bahraini defender as Pakistan would appear in the 2016 Under-22 Asian Championship Qualifiers, which will also serve as Rio Olympics Qualifiers, World Cup Qualifiers and SAFF Cup which would be hosted by India at the end of the year.
While addressing the Congress AFC chief Sheikh Salman said that Pakistan was like his second home.
“Pakistan is like my second home. It is my first ever speech at the Congress meeting of any football association in Asia and I have great friendship with the PFF chief Faisal Hayat who has led the Pakistan’s football by example,” Salman was quoted as saying.
He assured AFC’s full support for the development of football in Pakistan.
“In my tenure as AFC president I have tried to bring unity and solidarity among the family of Asian football and in the next tenure we will bring certain changes which could cope with the demands of football in Asia which is brimming with immense talent.”