LAHORE, Oct 1: Patron of Bahrain sports, Gen Sheikh Mohammed Bin Essa Bin Salman Al Khalifa during his official visit to Pakistan which starts from Sunday will meet the president of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Faisal Saleh Hayat in Lahore to discuss the promotion of football in the country.

Faisal told Dawn on Saturday that the meeting would take several decisions to promote the game and strengthen relations between football federations of the two countries.

Mr Mohammed Bin Essa had already extended a helping hand to PFF when he (Faisal) called on him in Bahrain on his way home after attending FIFA and AFC meetings in Morocco last month, he said.

Faisal said the Bahrain Football Federation had finalized the names of Jassim Mohammed Abbas and Khudair Abdulnabi Shamtoot, who would be sent to Pakistan to train free of cost senior team for the SAF Games in Sri Lanka in April.

The coaches, who would also train Pakistani coaches during their stay, would join the team soon after Eid-ul-Fitr. “The coaches have good standing at international level,” PFF president claimed.

Bahrain would also host Pakistan senior team in January and February next year after the Dec 7-17 SAFF Championship in Karachi. The team would remain in Bahrain for two months for further training before competing in SAF Games, he said.

Faisal said that the PFF had also plans to hold a tri-nation tournament soon after the SAFF Championship, in which Nepal had confirmed their participation and the third team might be Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or some other country.

PFF would also organize a separate home series against Afghanistan and most of its matches would be held in the NWFP.

“This planning aims at helping Pakistan raise its world ranking to 149 from the current 169 in next one year,” he hoped.

He said that Iran would also provide PFF a coach who could be sent to Balochistan to train players.

Faisal said that the PFF had suspended Wapda’s coach Hafeez, captain Moneeza and a player Khalida Noor for two years for brawling in the women’s final after conceding the solitary goal of the match.

He stressed thought that he wanted to ban them for life.

“...I will not spare anyone for indiscipline or being overage in any team,” he vowed.

But when he was reminded of brawls in Premier League matches, he admitted that the federation had already suspended five or six match referees for failing to control the situation.

He agreed that the matches involving Panthers Club, Faisalabad and Wohaib Club, Lahore witness more nastiness.

“Yes I have warned the officials of Wohaib Club, Lahore that they may face suspension if they are found involved in such incidents in future.”

According to a report a match referee Abdul Jabbar was manhandled by some enraged Wohaib Club players on Friday after he gave a goal to Panthers Club in the 87th minute.

Under pressure, the referee reversed his decision and disallowed the goal but he was beaten again, this time by spectators who had entered the field.

Faisal expressed the hope that the Football House in Lahore would be completed by the end of November this year with FIFA’s funding.

FIFA president Blatter is likely to visit Pakistan to inaugurate the mega project, he said.

He said that the PFF would bid to host the AFC President Cup in May next year.

Faisal further said that the federal and Punjab governments had released a total grant of Rs20 million to install floodlights in Punjab Stadium, Lahore.