ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee will get an eight-and-half month extension once its current mandate expires.

Elections of the PFF don’t seem to be happening anytime soon with the FIFA-appointed NC, led by Haroon Malik, having only just initiated the process of club scrutiny — the first step towards the long-awaited polls to elect the president of the country’s football governing body, which has been mired in crisis and controversy since 2015.

The mandate of the PFF NC, which was installed in September 2019, was due to expire on June 30 but FIFA’s all-powerful Council, which met on Friday, has decided on giving it an extension till March next year.

“The FIFA Council has decided to extend the mandate of the normalisation committee of the PFF until 15 March 2024 at the latest,” a FIFA spokesperson told Dawn on Friday.

The situation of the PFF was part of the agenda of the Council meeting, which was held via a video conference.

The PFF NC has come under a lot of pressure recently from the government, which is urging it to hold elections as soon as possible. The government has also written to FIFA, complaining about the PFF NC and the sluggish pace at which it is working towards election.

The PFF NC embarked on an extensive programme for club registrations via the online PFF Connect portal. It’s now conducting physical scrutiny through district tournaments.

At a recent parliamentary hearing, Haroon had said that he expected the election process to be completed by June next year.

Dawn understands that the latest extension comes with FIFA also urging the NC to complete the election process as within the extended period.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2023