A DAY after the FIFA-AFC delegation left the country after holding meetings with officials of the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee and others, the national women’s football team arrived to a warm welcome — as runners-up in the Four-Nations Tournament in Saudi Arabia. Opening with a 1-0 win against Comoros, Pakistan suffered a 2-1 reverse against Mauritius. Captain Maria Khan’s brilliant free-kick then secured a 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia, allowing Pakistan to take second spot behind the hosts. The PFF NC’s mandate, apart from its main role of holding elections for Pakistan’s football governing body, is to put the game back on track. With the women’s team, it seems to have done its job. The team hadn’t played a game in eight years before taking part in the SAFF Women’s Championship last year. Their performance in Saudi Arabia was creditable considering three foreign-based players couldn’t play as they did not possess Pakistani passports, a grave error by the PFF NC.

Criticism of the PFF NC — which has had two iterations since it was first appointed by FIFA in 2019, the latest one coming in January 2021 — has been on account of the delay in holding PFF elections. FIFA and AFC officials who met grassroots football organisers and stakeholders, some of whom will be contesting, were questioned. It’s been over six months and the PFF NC — which had given the government an eight-month deadline to hold elections once it returned to PFF headquarters, after having been expelled from it by a rival group — is yet to complete club registrations. It has launched an extensive programme to complete that first step towards holding elections but patience is wearing thin. FIFA and AFC officials have said that elections remain their priority. Further action will be decided by FIFA but it is clear that the sooner an elected set-up is installed, the better it will be for Pakistan football. Otherwise, the sport will remain stuck in squabbles.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2023