FIFA Expects To Have A Meeting With The Government Of Pakistan “Early Next Year”
December 22, 2023 / By Zunair Tahir / Sport News
The meeting between FIFA representatives and Pakistani authorities, which has been postponed twice, may take place as early as next month.
Government officials had already booked their flights to Dubai for the summit, but it was canceled once more after being rescheduled from September to December.
Only a few days before the meeting was supposed to take place, the Pakistan Football Federation Normalization Committee spoke with the government and gave no explanation for the postponement.
The high-level meeting was scheduled to “discuss in more detail the current situation of PFF and the future of football in Pakistan post-normalization committee,” with representatives from the PFF NC and the Asian Football Confederation also scheduled to participate.
It was anticipated that the government will put pressure on the Haroon Malik-led committee to provide a definitive date for elections during the meeting, as it has been at war with the PFF NC over the ongoing postponement of the nation’s football governing body elections.
FIFA stated that it was attempting to schedule the meeting for January, but it did not provide any explanation for the postponement.
A FIFA official told that on Wednesday night, “FIFA stays in contact and continues to work closely with the current normalization committee, as well as the AFC, to find a new date for the next meeting with relevant authorities in Pakistan.”
FIFA was looking into a date at the end of 2023 with pertinent parties, but that was sadly not feasible. It is currently being considered when to hold the meeting, which is scheduled for early next year.
Director general of the Pakistan Sports Board Shoaib Khosa remarked on Thursday that he was “looking forward to it” after learning from Dawn that the meeting would take place the following month.
But Khosa was fast to point out that since the PFF NC notified the PSB of the postponement of the December meeting, they had not heard from the PFF NC.
“We learned about the cancellation of the December meeting just a few days prior to our departure for Dubai,” expressed regret on Khosa’s side. The PFF NC hasn’t responded to us since then. We were not given an explanation for the postponement of the meeting.
Khosa went on to say that the PSB intended to approach FIFA to get an update on the elections.
“The PFF NC’s current mandate expires in March, and we still demand that elections be held by then,” Khosa stated. “We are prepared to extend our utmost assistance to guarantee that the elections take place by March.”
The PFF NC officials will soon be invited to a meeting, announced Fawad Hasan Fawad, the recently appointed Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination, on Thursday.”The PFF NC requested that the December meeting with FIFA be rescheduled, according to IPC Ministry officials,” Fawad stated.
“I’m excited to have a conversation with the PFF NC officials shortly. Despite having been appointed in September 2019, the PFF NC has been authorized to organize elections, but it has not been able to do so thus far.
“International federations protect their member associations from government meddling, but regrettably, in Pakistan, this has led to the total breakdown of the athletic environment.
“International federations protect their member associations from government meddling, but regrettably, in Pakistan, this has led to the total breakdown of the athletic environment.
“We have no intention of interfering with the PFF NC’s affairs, but we will write to FIFA if we don’t receive a satisfactory response from it.”
