ISLAMABAD – The International Football Federation (FIFA) will lift the suspension on Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) once the Football House was handed back over to the Normalization Committee.
A virtual meeting was held between the Federal Minister Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Dr Fehmida Mirza and Representatives from FIFA, Asian Football Federation and Normalization Committee (NC). The meeting which was held here to discuss the current football situation in Pakistan was attended by representatives of FIFA, Asian Football Confederation, and members of Normalization Committee.
Sanjeevan Balasingam, Director Member Associations, Rolph Tanner, Director Governance, Laura Dijak, Sr. Manager Governance from FIFA, Purushottam Kattel, Sr. Manager, Dinesh De Silva from AFC and Haroon Malik Chairman, Haris Azmat Member, Shahid Niaz Khokhar Member and Saud Hashmi Member from Normalization Committee Pakistan.
In the meeting, FIFA representative highly appreciated the efforts being taken by IPC ministry, Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the federal government in resolving the football matter. He showed keen interest to work in collaboration with PSB in future football activities in Pakistan. “FIFA will lift its suspension as soon as the football house is handed back over to NC so that it can carry out its assigned mandate to conduct PFF elections.”
He said that FIFA development funds would also be spent for promoting football in the country once the suspension was lifted. The AFC representative also appreciated the efforts and urged early lifting of FIFA’s suspension for restoration of football activities in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Dr Fehmida highlighted the steps and efforts which had already been undertaken in resolving the issue and reiterated her stance for conducting free, fair and transparent PFF elections at the earliest. She assured that Football House would be handed over to NC very shortly for which she was personally monitoring the situation.
The participants acknowledged and appreciated the steps being taken at the government level and assured their full cooperation. The meeting was a huge step in getting Pakistan closer to International Football and getting PFF’s membership restored.