KARACHI, May 18: Two Wapda footballers — Naveed Akram and Mahmood Ali — have been loaned out for two months to the Saraswoti Youth Club (SYC) of Nepal to feature in the 2011 Nepal Martyr’s Memorial A-Division League.

Mahmood, a midfielder hailing from Quetta, and Naveed, a fullback from Multan, are the first two Pakistanis in nearly 40 years to accept offers to play in foreign leagues.

Both Mahmood and Naveed have featured in Wapda’s domestic title-winning squads for the last few years. As part of the Pakistan national football team, Naveed has had the honour of scoring goals against the UAE in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in 2006 and Japan during the 2006 Doha Asian Games under the coaching of Bahrain’s Salman Sharida.

Both the boys were discovered during Wapda’s 2011 AFC President’s Cup campaign in Nepal last month. The Nepalese football scouts were also impressed with Wapda’s main striker Arif Mahmood, who had to turn down the offer as he had been called for the national camp.