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LAHORE: After a long time of 16 years, the federal government has finally taken the initiative to introduce a new national sports policy, which proposes independent status of the national sports federations, with some conditions.
Other prominent features of the proposed draft — titled National Sports Policy 2026 — include formation of a national sports council and establishment of a financial framework to make available funds for sports activities.
Under the 18th Constitutional Amendment made in the year 2010, sports became a subject of the provinces. However, the National Sports Policy 2005, under which sports comes under the federal domain, has remained intact up till now.
Now the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) has sent a proposed draft National Sports Policy 2026 to all the national sports federations, seeking their feedback to make the policy workable before announcing it with the approval of the Federal Cabinet.
The last date for the sports federations to send their input is June 2, 2026.
According to the draft of the new policy, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the clause 5.5.1 says that the National Sports Federations (NSFs) shall remain autonomous bodies, subject to: compliance with governance standards issued by PSB; adherence to international federation rules and performance-based accountability.
The functions of the NSFs, according to clause 5.5.2 of the proposed draft, include Organising national championships; managing national teams and developing technical rules and training systems.
From 2005 to 2015, the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) kept opposing the autonomy of the POA and the NSFs in order to implement the National Sports Policy 2005.
Under that policy, POA office-bearers and those of the national sports federation can hold the positions of president, secretary and treasurer for only two four-year terms. The POA and the national sports federations staunchly opposed this PSB stance which resulted in a tense and prolonged tussle among the three stakeholders due to which sports in Pakistan suffered badly for 10 long years.
In 2015, the POA was admitted as an autonomous body by the PSB but not before the IOC had included the point in the agenda of its meeting to ban Pakistan’s membership due to the federal government’s interference in POA affairs.
Regrettably, this tug-of-war like scenario between the PSB and national federations, has continued to date.
Yasir Pirzada, the outgoing PSB director general, had made amendments to the PSB constitution, forming an election commission which will hold elections of all the sports federations.
However, the federations have not accepted this amendment so far, while declaring it as interference in their affairs, which is the violation of the IOC.
Moreover, the proposed drafts of the National Sports Policy 2026 guides all the sports bodies; ”Transparent electoral processes; Fixed tenure limits; Independent audit mechanisms.”
This clause indicates that the federations may be allowed to hold their elections on their own.
ROLE of POA
Moreover, the 2026 policy also determines the role of the POA.
The proposed draft on the POA role says, “The POA remains an autonomous body in compliance with [the] IOC Charter; [whose role is to] manage Olympic participation and international representation; and coordinate with international federations”.
The draft adds, “No provision of this Policy shall contravene international obligations or IOC requirements.”
NATIONAL SPORTS COORDINATION COUNCIL
The new sports policy has also proposed a National Sports Coordination Council (NSCC), which will work under the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC). Under this proposal, for the first time all the provincial sports ministers and the federal sports minister will sit together as members of the council to deal with national sports affairs.
Besides the federal and provincial sports ministers, POA president, PSB director general, representatives of the national federations and a representative from the Higher Education Commission have also been proposed as NSCC members.
The functions of the council include policy harmonization between federation and provinces; coordination on international commitments; dispute resolution among stakeholders; and monitoring implementation of this policy, says the proposed draft.
Clause 2.1 of the draft reads, “In pursuance of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, sports shall remain a provincial subject.”
Moreover, shortage of funds has been a major hurdle in the promotion of sports and the 2026 policy draft also introduced an appropriate formula in this regard which states that a National Sports Development Fund (SDF) shall be established.
According to the draft, the SDF will include federal allocations, provincial contributions, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, sponsorships and media rights.
Provinces shall allocate not less than 2% of Annual Development Programme (ADP) to sports while Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) will encourage private investment in leagues, academies and infrastructure, and provide tax incentives for sports sponsorship.
Moreover, clause 8 of the draft proposed development of professional leagues in major sports besides expansion of sports media and broadcasting ecosystem.
Offering incentives in taxes will attract more sponsors to sports, it added.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S ROLE
“The federal government shall exercise functions limited to international representation and obligations; national coordination and policy harmonization; standard-setting, compliance and facilitation and strategic funding frameworks,” the draft reads.
According to the 2026 policy, the PSB will remain intact in the system to act as the national regulator and facilitator, set governance standards and compliance frameworks, manage national training centers and administer federal-level funding mechanisms.
The draft says that the provincial governments shall have primary responsibility for sports infrastructure development; talent identification and grassroots development; provincial competitions and leagues; registration and regulation of clubs.
According to clause 5.3.2 of the draft, each province shall establish a Provincial Sports Authority (PSA), provincial talent identification system and provincial sports endowment fund.”
The policy also proposed a role for the district and local governments under clause 5.4 which states that they will “conduct school and district-level competitions; facilitate club-based sports structures; and maintain community sports infrastructure”.
A National Talent Pathway System will also be established at the local, educational institutions, provincial and federal level, according to the sports policy 2026.
There will be mandatory inter-school and college competitions, credit-based sports evaluation in education and formation of the national athlete database, the policy draft recommended.
When contacted, some heads of the national sports federations told Dawn that they had received the draft, and soon they would hold a meeting to finalise their inputs. “Overall, the policy contains some good initiatives but [the] final comments on it can be given after a thorough study of the [proposed] policy by the federations,” an official said.
Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2026
