LAHORE: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has appeared with a clear mind by announcing that it can shift the FIFA Day matches against Palestine from Lahore to either Karachi or Islamabad if the provincial government is not ready to hand over the Punjab Stadium for the matches, scheduled to be held on Oct 14 and 16.

The PFF had requested the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) to make available the Punjab Stadium for the FIFA matches but it refused on the pretext that youth festival is being held there.

The SBP had made the announcement in a press release which was later withdrawn and it was said that a new decision would be made soon.

However, PFF secretary Ahmad Yar Lodhi, when contacted, told Dawn that while it would have been an honour for the provincial government to host international matches, they appear quite reluctant to stage the same and so the matches could be shifted to some other city.

“If the provincial government is not interested we have other options and the matches could be held in Karachi or Islamabad,” he said.

It may be mentioned here that earlier the SBP had also refused to rent out the Punjab Stadium to PFF for the purpose of holding a training camp of national women’s team which were to participate in the SAF Cup in Colombo.

For the last one year, the SBP has been showing its reluctance in coordinating with the national sports federations for holding international or national activities at its venues due to a conflict-like situation.