FIFA has suspended the Pakistan Football Federation's (PFF) membership citing "undue third-party interference" as the federation's "offices and its accounts remain in control of a court-appointed administrator," a press release from the association said on Wednesday.
The decision was taken by the bureau of the FIFA Council and came in to effect immediately. It was taken since control of the court-appointed administrator "constitutes a violation of the PFF obligations to manage its affairs independently and without influence from any third parties in accordance with the FIFA Statutes."
However, "the suspension will be lifted once the PFF offices and access to the PFF accounts are returned to the PFF," the FIFA press release said.
With the suspension in effect, the PFF and its associate clubs will not be able to benefit from any of FIFA or the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) facilities or development and training programmes, with the federation losing all of its membership rights.
The PFF dispute began after a controversial election of the Punjab Football Association (PFA) in April 2015 that saw the country’s football governing body split into two factions heading into its presidential poll.
With both factions heading into elections, the Lahore High Court (LHC) intervened and ordered a stay on the elections but the Hayat group went ahead and conducted the election in the presence of an AFC observer. It was a move that saw the LHC appoint an administrator to control the PFF affairs until the matter was resolved.
Meanwhile, FIFA gave the PFF faction led by Faisal Saleh Hayat a two-year mandate to ratify statutes and hold fresh elections in September 2015.
However, PFF's factions being involved in a legal battle meant the elections could not happen.
The offices and accounts remain in the court administrator's control which led to FIFA’s Member Associations Committee recommending the FIFA Council to suspend the PFF for third-party interference, therefore, "contravening its obligations under articles 14 and 19 of the FIFA Statutes."
