KARACHI, Dec 19: Karachi Women FC General Secretary Fahmida Zamir has accused another team of stealing her football club’s name and identity to feature in the ongoing NBP Inter-club Women Football Tournament and has lodged a strong protest over the matter.

The inaugural match of the said event was played between Diya Women FC and a team by the name of “Karachi Women FC” on Sunday. Diya Women FC beat the other team 7-0. But Karachi Women FC’s General Secretary said that her team never showed up for the match as they had pulled out of the event at the last minute.

“We pulled out of the event a day earlier. The team that played the opening match was not Karachi Women FC but another team given the same name by the tournament director Sadia Sheikh to save face maybe,” the General Secretary accused. “I was called by the tournament director herself after the match to inform me that her team, the Diya Women FC, was given a walkover due to my team’s absence on the field and we were fine with that as we weren’t playing in the event anyway.

“It was only after seeing the match report in the newspapers on Monday morning that we realised that they had played the match with some other team by the same name. Karachi Women FC is a registered club since 2009, they cannot steal the name like that,” the lady said showing her displeasure.

About the reason behind Karachi Women FC’s pulling out of the event at the last minute, their secretary general said that they were upset about Diya Women FC calling their other team, the SMD Fatima Jinnah outfit, for practice and then luring the girls to join the Diya Club in exchange for more player fees and travel allowance. “Sadia Sheikh also asked the team’s coach to join them but she turned down the invitation and reported back to me about what had happened after which we decided to pull out of the competition. It was those girls who ditched the SMD Fatima Jinnah team for Diya that played against Diya Women FC on Sunday using our club team’s name,” she informed.

Tournament director Sadia Sheikh, when asked to comment about the controversy, said: “Okay, you may call the club that played with us on Sunday as ‘Karachi City Girls FC’ from now on.”

The NBP Inter-club Women Football Tournament, carrying Rs 100,000 in prize money, was to be played among seven club teams when another leading outfit, Karachi United Women’s FC, also pulled out at the time of the draw due to other reasons.