KARACHI, March 17: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) continues to flout FIFA directives by spending grants from the international body on sending a large number of officials on foreign tours.

PFF has recently announced 20-member squad for the Asian Cup pre-qualifying round from March 21 in Singapore, along with seven officials.

Lt-Col Mujahidullah Khan and Tariq Lutfi will accompany the team as manager and coach. Five more officials from other provinces named for the tour are, Irfan Amjad Lutfi, Chowdhry Abdul Rasheed, Yaqoob Baloch, M. Azam, Zafar Habib.

The presence of a manager and coach is understandable, but the remaining officials would be nothing but waste of money, especially when the PFF always complains about the scarcity of funds despite receiving one-million-dollar FIFA aid.

Pakistan, under the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP), has already received one million dollars and is to receive the same amount in the shape of four $250,000 annual instalments.

Soccer’s ruling body FIFA had expressed surprize last year over the practice of sending officials in huge numbers.

Manilal Fernando, the FIFA development officer, during his last year’s trip here, had promised that PFF would be asked to explain why it was involved in sending officials in huge numbers.

Instead of providing international exposure to the players, PFF had sent no less than eight officials each to Beirut and Bangkok for the World Cup qualifying round in 2001.

“I am unaware that PFF is sending officials in such large numbers. But if this is the case, FIFA will ask the PFF to clarify and will be reprimanded. In my country, Sri Lanka, we usually have a coach and manager. Besides we have team officials on permanent basis.

“Officials’ appointment on tournament-to-tournament is old soccer. The PFF will also be asked to stop that practice,” Fernando, had told Dawn on July 29, 2002.

Almost a year has passed the PFF was warned by Fernando against appointing team manager on event-to-event basis, but ironically the orders from the FIFA official have fallen on deaf ears.