With a new set of administrators in place, there is hope that the state of football in the country will improve by decent proportions
THE recently held election for office bearers of Pakistan Football Federation may have reflected an unopposed stamp of authority. But promises of future programmes and plans started on a lop sided note as President elect Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat was not there to take charge of the opening session of the General Council.
The panel was elected, unopposed, after pre-election wrangling and pressure from government quarters. Mian Mohammad Azhar was replaced by the Interior Minister for the post of the PFF President, apparently as an act of revenge for the 1994 elections when Mian Azhar won by a single vote to reach the pinnacle.
Punjab Minister for Agriculture Arshad Khan Lodhi was elected Secretary of PFF and the top brass reflected no promises for the players in terms of improvement of infrastructure in the country and quality of the game. However, one wonders if the new PFF President will be able to give his full to the post, considering that he is after all the Minister of Interior! The same applies to the Secretary, who holds the all important portfolio of agriculture in the Punjab province.
Awarding the top posts of ministers may unwittingly raise a number of eyebrows. But considering the pathetic state of the Federation negates any gains in that direction. And it can’t be the one million dollars that were allocated to PFF by Fifa for youth development and improvements in the infrastructure.
Out of the total funds allocated, Fifa has already released $750,000 during the tenure of Mian Azhar and Agha Liaquat, the former secretary. And since PFF accounts have not so far been audited and it is not known to the public how the money was utilized or is it still with the Federation. Still, if media reports are any indication of how things are, then most of the money has already been spent.
The money was spent on foreign tours that Pakistan national team undertook. It was used to pay for the boarding, lodging and transport facilities, pay for the foreign coaches appointed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), organizing domestic tournaments and allocating funds to local associations. The money was definitely not spent on infrastructure development. Even the results achieved after spending so much are there for anyone to judge and assess if the money was channelled in the right direction.
In the last three years, there have been two foreign coaches, for both the senior and junior team. Early this year, the PFF reverted to local coaches. The foreign coaches were paid $3,000, an amount borne by the AFC. But the rest of the expenditure, accommodation was paid by the PFF. It was only after the Pakistani team’s dismal performance that their services were terminated.
A separate allocation of $400,000 has also been sanctioned by AFC for setting up a football house in Lahore. No progress has been reported in that direction as the PFF could not purchase a piece of land in Lahore. Vice-president elect from Sindh, Baloch Abbas is believed to making efforts to shift the project to Karachi after the Sindh government promised to provide a suitable place for the football academy. On hearing this, the present secretary, in his first press conference, indicated that he would make every effort to keep the project in Lahore instead of shifting it to Karachi or Quetta explaining that any decision to that effect will be taken by the General Council. The AFC has even committed itself to allocating additional funds of $100,000 to the PFF for streamlining administrative operations of the Federation. But the signs are that the amount approved may lapse due to inefficient use of funds by PFF in the past.
For the near future the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is to prepare a master plan for the development of the sport on the continent. The master plan will serve to propel Asian football into the realms of excellence on the international level. The study, due to begin this year will enlist among others, the cooperation of Uefa, England and Germany. FIFA has given its total support to the AFC by allocating an annual grant of $2.5 million to be used for the preparation of the master plan. FIFA will also allocate further funding for the execution of the master plan by technical experts.
Looking at the past, football in Pakistan has suffered from teh indifferent attitude of its officials who had given little or no time to the game, because of their own personal political commitments. Former president Mian Mohammad Azhar and secretary Agha Liaquat Ali were actively involved in national politics but Saleh Hayat and Arshad Khan, as current ministers with important portfolios appear to be much more involved in the critical political scenario that engulfs the country.
The secretary has already indicated that the Federation’s work will be distributed to various officials, newly elected on the panel and these are expected to share the burden of the president. But Arshad Khan failed to specify the distribution of work assigned to senior vice-president Agha Liaquat Ali, vice-presidents Ghulam Abbas Baloch and Syed Zahir Ali Shah. The only positive aspect of the beginning of the new regime is that the national league, as pressed by AFC and Fifa, will immediately start at district and provincial, and on the national level from next year. An estimated expenditure of Rs4.5 million is expected for the competitions for which the federation will be looking for potential sponsors.
At the same time, a disturbing revelation has come to light. It has been revealed by the new secretary that a 10-year ban was imposed on former PFF secretary, Hafiz Salman Butt who was declared persona non-gratis by the Fifa for violating the code of conduct set for football officials. It was nearly ten years back when Pakistan earned a bad name after two of its ‘youth teams’ landed in UAE for the youth championship. Pakistan’s reputation was put on stake when Fifa declared Salman Butt persona non-gratis earing Pakistan a bad name in the process.
One hopes that the new team in PFF exhibits some character and a strong will to serve football in the country with sincere efforts.
The panel elected is Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat (president), Arshad Khan Lodhi (secretary), Syed Agha Liaquat All (Sr. vice-president, Balochistan), Ghulam Abbas Baloch (VP, Sindh), Syed Zahir Ali Shah (VP, NWFP), Pervaiz Saeed Mir (treasurer), Ronaq Ali Rajput, Naseebullah Khan (associate secretaries), Mohammad Ilyas, Malik Abdul Aziz, Mohammad Shafi Akhund, Mohammad Jan Maree, Sohaib Butt, Arif Mehmood Siddiqui, Qazi Mohammad Asif (executive committee members).
With a new set of administrators in place, there is hope that the state of football in the country will improve by decent proportions 
