The International Football Federation (FIFA) on Friday suspended the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) following it failed to make amendments to its constitution that the global body deemed necessary for smooth and just governance of the sport in the country, reported PTI.
According to the report, FIFA said Pakistan would remain suspended until the PFF congress made those amendments.
“The PFF has been suspended with immediate effect due to its failure to adopt a revision of the PFF Constitution that would ensure truly fair and democratic elections and thereby fulfil its obligations as mandated by FIFA as part of the ongoing normalisation process of PFF,” FIFA said in a statement.
“The suspension will only be lifted subject to the PFF Congress approving the version of the PFF Constitution presented by FIFA and the AFC.”
Since 2019, the Pakistan football has been run by a FIFA appointed Normalisation Committee, that was tasked with holding elections and cleaning up parallel groupings in the football set-up but it has failed to execute these plans properly.
Core issues remain:
The Normalisation Committee heads and members have changed in the last five but the core issues in the sport in Pakistan still remain.
The Normalisation Committee has been at loggerheads with the state-run Pakistan Sports Board which has caused a hold up in the amendments.
Earlier this week, the PFF Normalisation Committee chairman Haroon Malik had warned a parliamentary panel that February 15 will be the last day of his tenure and Pakistan risked suspension if it didn’t implement the constitutional amendments.
Malik also made it clear that making the amendments didn’t mean that he will become a potential candidate in the elections of the country’s football governing body.
Malik said the PFF Congress was not willing to make the amendments as directed by FIFA leading to a stand-off.
This is Pakistan Football Federation’s third suspension since 2017.
