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LAHORE In order to gain more financial and technical aid from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Congress gave a presentation to a five-member delegation of the continental body led by Vision Asia Director Brendan Menton at the FIFA House here on Wednesday.
'After being briefed by all the departments of the PFF, the delegation that is to remain here till June 27, will prepare its recommendations about the financial and technical assistance needed by the PFF to promote football in Pakistan,' federation Secretary Col (retd.) Ahmad Yar Lodhi later told Dawn.
He said the PFF president Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat gave a detailed presentation to the delegation, which showed satisfaction over the working of the PFF.
He said the AFC had already been assisting 14 countries in the region under this programme and Pakistan could be the 15th.
The Congress also approved the sponsorship deal for the Pakistan Premier League and the appointment of foreign coach George Kottan as national team coach.
He said the Congress also approved of the two-year ban imposed on FIFA referee Ahmad Jan, who is said to have violated certain PFF rules.
Budget for the next fiscal year was approved as well.
Meanwhile, PFF President Faisal Saleh Hayat termed the launch of Vision Asia as a milestone in the country's football history.
'The impact of the Vision Asia-Pakistan programme cannot be felt and seen overnight but I am sure it is a way to go up. Vision Asia is a programme initiated by AFC President Mohammed Bin Hammam to raise the standards of football in the Asian region through a holistic approach. The idea of Vision Asia is to help the different countries in the region develop their individual structures best suited to their individual environment,' said Faisal, who chaired the PFF Congress at the FIFA Football House.
Faisal added that he met FIFA President Sepp Blatter twice during the 59th FIFA Congress at Bahamas recently and the FIFA chief appreciated PFF's football promotion work since 2003 saying that the time was not far when Pakistan will be among the top playing nations of Asia.
Faisal said that his main target was to complete the SAF Games hat-trick when Dhaka will stage the 11th South Asian Games next year.
'We will develop a strong Pakistan Under-23 team to give us the third gold on the trot after our 2004 and 2006 triumphs. George Kottan will not only look after the national team but also take care of the Dhaka-bound squad along with the 16th Asian Games 2010 team,' he said.
Faisal pledged to continue his drive to promote youth development, women soccer in order to professionalise the game in Pakistan. He said that the AFC while recognising PFF's efforts in making football a happening sport here, assured increasing financial and technical support. Hammam, according to Faisal, also showed satisfaction over AFC AID-27 Financial Assistance Scheme through which 27 youth coaches were providing coaching to young footballers all over the country and said that soon the amount of the scheme would be raised to US$10,000 from 6,000.
'An increase in the number of coaches will also help in achieving Vision 2020's target which the PFF unveiled during its June 21, 2008 Congress meeting,' added Faisal who also happens to be a member of the AFC Disciplinary Committee.
He added that PFF's annual budget was around Rs40 million, which is half of All India Football Federation (AIFF) budget of Rs800 plus.
'Yet we keep on producing sensational results in contrast to our neighbours' performance. Recent events have seen us overwhelm Kyrgyzstan, Chinese Taipei, Turkmenistan, Singapore, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal while we drew with Iraq, Iran, Oman, China and Bahrain. We bagged our fourth gold in SAF Games history in 2006, while overtaking India's three.'
