KARACHI: Facilities at Islamabad’s Jinnah Stad­ium were found ‘satisfactory’ by the Pakistan Foot­ball Federation Normali­sa­tion Committee during an inspection on Thursday to host Pakistan’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Cambodia in October.

The PFF NC is trying to finalise the venue for the return leg of the first-round qualifier, slated for Oct 17, with Cambodia to host the opening match of the tie on Oct 12.

The FIFA-appointed NC had already stated its preference was for the home leg to be held in the country with the national team aiming to end its miserable record of never having won a qualifier of football’s showpiece event.

PFF NC member Shahid Khokhar and Pakistan head coach Shehzad Anwar visited the venue and were shown around by officials of the Pakistan Sports Board.

“At large, we found it satisfactory although there are a few areas which need updating especially with regards to the pitch,” Khokhar told Dawn.

Any venue decided by the NC will have to be passed by FIFA’s inspection team and Khokhar added that the Lahore’s Punjab Stadium is also under consideration.

“We will also be visiting the Punjab Stadium for inspection in the coming days and we are in talks with the Sports Board Punjab for that,” he said. “Once we’re done with our inspection, we will be inviting a FIFA delegation to finalise the venue.”

Pakistan also faced Cambodia in the opening round of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup but played the home leg in Qatar due to a continued crisis in the PFF, which eventually saw FIFA install a Normalisation Committee to oversee football affairs in the country.

In 2015, Pakistan were due to play Yemen in the second leg of their first-round qualifier for the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the Punjab Stadium but the match was postponed less than 24 hours earlier after a blasts in a Christian neighbourhood in Lahore and the game was eventually shifted to Bahrain.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2023