![Interview: AFC president looking towards promising days for football in Pakistan [Dawn]](https://footballpakistan.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/AFC-president-Sheikh-Salman-interviewed-by-Umaid-Wasim-of-Dawn.jpg "Interview: AFC president looking towards promising days for football in Pakistan [Dawn]")
by Umaid Wasim
THIS time, on this visit, the promise of what the future beholds has provided long-awaited relief to the Asian Football Confederation president. Having met with government leaders throughout the morning and the afternoon on Wednesday, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, also the senior vice-president of FIFA, sounded thrilled at the prospect of football moving forward in Pakistan after a decade of crisis and controversy.
Asia’s football chief is on a three-day visit to the country where he has been invited as a State Guest and having arrived on Tuesday night, he met deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar, acting president Yousuf Raza Gilani and interior minister Mohsin Naqvi to kick off his tour with talks centering on how Pakistan can make up for lost time. Other items on the agenda were the assurance of stability in the Pakistan Football Federation and the resumption of the domestic league.
After a busy day of talks, and when he sat down in the evening for an interview with Dawn in the boardroom of a plush hotel in Islamabad, Sheikh Salman said he felt “confident” that the government was willing to invest in the game and that the “only way forward was up”.
“If you look at the last eight years, since I was last here in Pakistan, a lot has changed but let’s not forget that there was a [FIFA-appointed] Normalisation Committee [for the PFF] for seven years [since 2019] and the PFF was suspended three times… it wasn’t a good sign,” he reflected on the crisis that had engulfed the federation since 2015 and ended with the election of Mohsen Gilani as the country’s football chief earlier this year.
“All we wanted was the constitution and the statutes [of the PFF] according to FIFA and the AFC and it took so much time just to do that. Finally, though, it was done and we had an election with the statutes approved and a new board in place.
“We’re looking forward to working together. What matters is the future. We’ve wasted so much time in the past but we must look today at what can be done and how we can support the growth of football in Pakistan through FIFA’s programmes and the AFC. This country has so much potential and I’m sure that the only way forward is going up.”
The AFC chief, who has known Mohsen “for a long time”, feels he is the right man to take Pakistan football forward.
“When Mohsen was elected, I was happy because he is a football person,” added Sheikh Salman. “He has a vision, a FIFA Masters degree which not a lot of member association presidents have. It’s good we have someone who has a football background but we need to give him the support and give him the chance to show and then judge. We need to judge him after a period of time to see what he can do.
“I think it is a challenge for him but it is a challenge for us as well. I don’t think he can do it on his own or I can do it on my own. It means the unity of everyone to achieve what we hope for. We want to be close to the PFF because the president has a plan. Whether it is through the private sector or the government or FIFA, we need to be side by side. But we need to support him to have a stable organisation running football in Pakistan.”
Sheikh Salman, however, insisted that there will be no compromise on accountability.
“We need to learn from the past, we don’t need to make the same mistakes,” he said, hinting at the previous regime. “Mohsen is in for a full term and I’ve told him that I’ll support you but you will be accountable as well. I want to see positives.”
Since taking over as president, Mohsen’s body has been plagued by funding issues — most notably the control over bank accounts and an audit of the term of the Normalisation Committee. Sheikh Salman insisted that financial support will come in due course.
“The AFC and the FIFA support is going to come if you prepare everything in the right way because the global and continental organisations want to know that the funds are used in the proper way,” he said. “We have set certain regulations that all 211 members of FIFA have to follow and if the rules are followed, the support will come.”
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
The AFC chief emphasised that the responsibility of developing the sport shouldn’t lie solely with the federation, or FIFA and the AFC.
He looked forward to the government playing its due part but without compromising the independence of the PFF. National sports federations, including the PFF, have for years cried foul over interference into their matters but Sheikh Salman expressed his pleasure that, for now, the government and the PFF are on the same page.
“The rules are clear in dividing responsibilities and we all know about the role of the government, which is an important one, what the role of the federation is and what our role is as well,” he said. “We cannot interfere more as we should as well … we have our limits. But we have to support the independence of the federation as well, and how we can support them, whether it is us or the government.
“We shouldn’t rule out the role of the government. We don’t have that problem in other countries … we have it in certain countries. But we are there to make sure they don’t happen. I feel the Pakistan government is serious in investing in the game and I know there are certain capabilities I cannot ask for but it’s a responsibility we all share and we need to work on.
“In football there is not always enough no matter what you do. No matter how much you pour in, it’s still not enough. But we’ve seen a lot of results in certain countries where resources are limited but the results are great and this defines success.
“I’m not asking Pakistan to win the Asian Cup today but I’m asking how we can attract people to play because football has a social responsibility not just about competitiveness but we want to introduce it to schools, to neighbourhoods. And I know there are a lot of kids around who want to play.”
There, however, is also the need for competition and the resumption of domestic competitions. The Pakistan Premier Football League has not been held since 2019 and while the debate rages on whether the new competition is franchise-based or club-based, Sheikh Salman says it should be a model “that works best for the country”.
“It’s a local decision, the people of PFF would know exactly which system suits them, whether it is franchise or other way around,” he said. “We are ready to advise on the pros and cons but it depends on having the right partner to support you.”
He, however, cautioned into buying into the idea of a franchise league too quickly.
“It should be a proper professional league and not one that runs for three months,” he said. “It has to be a good balance between the football aspect and the commercial side. We want to keep it hand in hand, not one taking over the other. If there is a vision and the government also wants it, it will happen. But let’s take it step by step. We don’t want to aim so high but to start the league is the first step.”
Note: This is the first part of a wide-ranging interview with the AFC president. The second part will be published in Friday’s edition.