January 23, 2007	Tuesday	Muharram 03, 1428

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KARACHI, Jan 22: Pakistan football team will have a foreign coach within three or four months – possibly either from South America or Europe – with an aim to lift the sagging fortunes of the sport in the country, said Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Monday.

A top PFF official said he had been negotiating with coaches from Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Argentina and Brazil, saying a final decision would be taken within three or four months.

“We might have a Brazilian coach now coaching Pakistan Air Force. But we will definitely have a permanent foreign coach for which we are having talks. I hope we will finalise this within four months,” PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat told Dawn.

But the official was not certain either the foreigner would take the reins of the senior national squad or he would be deputed with a youth side.

“At the moment I can’t say where we will depute him. We will finalise things after recommendations from technical people. But I personally feel that he should be given one of our youth squads since youngsters are the future,” he opined.

However, he said the foreigner would be in addition to the Brazilian coach who might be attached with senior team if PFF was able to convince PAF to release him for national team coaching assignment.

“Coincidentally, I just got in touch with Bangladeshi officials lately who told me about the Brazilian coach. The Bangladeshis didn’t hire him because he was asking some $50,000 to $60,000 annually. So we have different options.”

Pakistan football team had foreign coaches in the past. The pair of John Layton and David Burns were provided by AFC on a three-year contract as part of development programme.

Burns had to leave after being sacked due to intrigues of the then PFF secretary Aga Liaquat, while Layton was not retained by the same official after his contract expired in 2003 despite having FIFA’s permission to use its grants as part of Financial Assistance Programme to pay the coach.

It should be of paramount importance for the PFF to ensure that the foreign coach be given free hand in selection and training and mischievous and intriguing elements are kept at bay.