PAKISTAN football enters the most crucial juncture of its ‘normalisation’ era next week, when an Extraordinary Congress in Lahore will amend the constitution of the country’s football governing body in the lead-up to its elections next month. Five years since the global football body FIFA appointed a Normalisation Committee to oversee the affairs of the Pakistan Football Federation, following years of crisis and controversy, elections are finally in sight. With the long drawn-out process of district and provincial elections complete, the elected congress has been called, with officials from FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation also present, to discuss and approve the amendments, which will ensure that there are no obstacles to the presidential election. FIFA and the AFC have previously raised concerns over some clauses in the PFF constitution, which ensure that less than a handful of individuals can run for the top seat of the football body. Those clauses will be tweaked so that elections are more open. For FIFA and the AFC, it is now or never; they want the election process to be over so that the PFF has an elected body at its helm.

That is easier said than done in countries like Pakistan. The Pakistan Sports Board has raised concerns over the congress meeting and the amendments to the PFF constitution. Speculation is rife that the changes will allow the PFF NC chairman Haroon Malik to run for the presidency. The board is also, rightly, irked that in several communications, Mr Malik has referred to himself as the PFF president. In a contract with FIFA, which stipulates that under no circumstances whatsoever can a member of the NC contest the elections, it is hoped that that rule will be respected. Any other move will jeopardise the election. It is also hoped that the PFF NC, FIFA and AFC will allay the concerns of the government and other stakeholders so that the world’s most popular sport can flourish in this country.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2024