September 16 – FIFA has appointed the members of a normalisation committeethat will run day affairs at the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) in anattempt to bring to bring order to an administration that has been deeplydivided football administration ever since controversial presidentialelections in 2015, reported Inside the Football World.
Humza Khan was appointed as the normalisation committee’s chairman and willoversee fresh elections at the in 2020, whereafter his committee’s mandatewill end. PFF general secretary retired Col Mujahidullah Tareen, SikanderKhattak, Munir Ahmed Khan Sadhana and Syed Hasan Najib Shah will completethe committee.
“It’s a massive responsibility,” Humza, told local media. “Being afootballer, and having played for Karachi United at a very high level, attimes there was disillusionment because football wasn’t flourishing in thecountry.”
FIFA recognises PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat and general secretaryretired Col Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi as the legitimate leadership of thefederation, but they are not recognised in Pakistan, where the PFF is ledby Ashfaq Hussain Shah. The latter was elected in December 2018 afterPakistan’s supreme court had stepped in and ordered fresh elections.
Read Top Stories
Recently, Hayat withdrew several national teams from competition includingwithdrawal from the qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games playedwithin the AFC U-23 Championship. Pakistan also fell at the first hurdle inAsian World Cup qualifying, losing 4-1 on aggregate to Cambodia. Thewomen’s national team has also been affected by the infighting in thefederation.
FIFA said the “normalisation committee members will assume their dutieswith immediate effect” though first members must pass an eligibility check.
