LAHORE: The Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee was back in control of its office on Friday, three days after it had been sealed and taken over by the Punjab’s Board of Revenue.

NC member Shahid Khokhar was handed over the keys to the PFF headquarters after it had been sealed on Tuesday, while Pakistan were clinching their historic qualification to the second round of preliminaries for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with BoR claiming that the country’s football governing body had violated the terms of its lease agreement.

Pakistan risked a suspension by global football body FIFA over eviction the eviction of its appointed body from office and a PFF NC spokesman told Dawn on Friday that talks were planned with the BoR to resolve the issue.

Balochistan Sports Minister Nawabzada Jamal Khan Raisani played a key role in talks with the government to ensure the handover of the PFF headquarters to the NC. “Issue has been resolved Alhamdulillah,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The BoR contends that PFF officials in the past had rented out a portion of its premises to a private company, violating the 30-year agreement that was signed in 2004.

The PFF headquarters was also sealed by the BoR in 2021 — at a time when Pakistan was suspended by FIFA.

“We are ready to clear all the problems with the BoR including clearing the arrears if any due on the NC according to the lease agreement,” said the PFF spokesperson.

“No portion of the building has been rented out during the tenure of the NC and the terms of the agreement were violated during the tenure of [former PFF president] Faisal Saleh Hayat.”

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2023