LAHORE, Dec 4: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has announced an 18-member squad which will participate in the first women’s South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship to be held in Bangladesh from Dec 12.

Asmara Habib of the Young Rising Stars Club, Naila Rani of HESCO and Marium Leghari of Diya Club are the new faces in the team while remaining 15 have already represented the country.

India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Pakistan besides hosts Bangladesh are featuring in the event organised by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).

The team includes Diya Club’s spearhead Hajra Khan, which won the Misha Dawood Trophy during last National Women’s Championship.

Goalkeeper Syeda Mahpara from Rising Star Club, Malaika Noor, also of the same club, Mejzgaan Orakzai and Mehwish Khan, who have also attended the FIFA Regional Coaching Course in Colombo, Sri Lanka, midfielder Ishrat Fatima of Lahore’s Sports Sciences Department (Punjab University), and also the first-ever captain of Pakistan team at Dhaka’s in the 11th South Asian Games, are also in the squad.

Squad:

Syeda Mahpara, Shumaila Sattar, Malaika Noor, Mehwish Khan, Asmara Habib, Nadia Bhatti, Abiha Haider, Humera Nazir, Sana Mahmood, Asma Usman, Naila Rani, Shahida Ghulam Raza, Mejzgaan Orakzai, Ishrat Fatima, Hajra Khan, Marium Leghari, Shelyla Baloch, Sehar Zaman.

Standbys: Roshnan Ali, Afshan Altaf.

Officials: Tariq Lutfi, Nadia Naqvi, Kirin Ilyas, Saba Noreen.