May 6, 2005	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 26, 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KARACHI, May 5: Top Pakistani soccer officials will attend Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Vision Asia meeting from May 27 to 29 in China, officials said on Thursday. President of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Faisal Saleh Hayat and secretary Arshad Lodhi will attend the meeting, a PFF official said.

AFC has asked Pakistan to formulate its own Vision Pakistan for which spade work has been started.

“AFC has asked national associations including Pakistan to formulate their own Vision programmes. PFF has started the work, but it will take time and huge efforts to finalize Vision Pakistan after research and input from various quarters,” said PFF official.

Launched in January 2003 by new AFC chief Mohamed Bin Hammam, it is the AFC’s grand plan for a continent-wide programme for raising the standards of the sport in the continent. The Vision Asia has been launched with an idea to produce world class players from Asia and ultimately to win the World Cup.

To achieve the skills like counterparts in Europe, Hammam has identified 11 disciplines; national associations, marketing, grassroots, coach education, referees, sports medicine, men’s competitions, women’s competitions, Futsal, media and fans.

For this, AFC has already hired professionals in each discipline who are being assisted by development officers, one for each of the four zones - West Asia, Central/South Asia, South East Asia and East Asia. Dato’ Peter Velappan, AFC’s long-serving general-secretary, is Vision Asia’s Project Director.

According to plan, the Vision Asia team needs to visit national associations to analyse the needs and requirements of each country. The Vision Asia team will then made recommendations for improvement and the national associations will be free to implement the Vision Asia according to their needs and at their leisure.

AFC has selected China, Hong Kong, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Jordan for its pilot programme. While Vision Asia has support of FIFA, President Sepp Blatter has said that “the future is Asia”.