Pakistan Football Federation Congress Approves Constitutional Amendments, Clears Path For FIFA Suspension Lift
The Pakistan Football Federation Congress has approved amendments to its constitution, a move that could potentially lead to the lifting of the suspension imposed by FIFA.
The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Congress has approved amendments to its constitution, a move that could potentially lead to the lifting of the suspension imposed by the world governing body, FIFA. A senior PFF official, Saqib Baloch, confirmed that Congress members reached a consensus on Thursday to implement these constitutional changes. "The process has been completed and minutes of the meeting will be sent to the world body which has said the suspension on Pakistan football will be lifted only when amendments are made," he said.
FIFA had earlier this month suspended the PFF after the Congress members refused to make amendments which FIFA deemed necessary for smooth and just governance of the sport in Pakistan.
The world body said Pakistan would remain suspended until the PFF congress made the amendments.
Pakistan football has been run by a normalisation committee appointed by FIFA since June, 2019. The committee was tasked with holding elections and addressing the issues of parallel factions within the football setup, but it has struggled to execute these plans effectively.
Over the past five years, the committee's heads and members have changed multiple times, but the core issues plaguing the sport in Pakistan remain unresolved.
The delay in amending the constitution has occurred because the normalisation committee has been at loggerheads with the state-run Pakistan Sports Board, even though the Pakistan team completed its World Cup pre-qualifying group matches against all opponents last year.
The tenure of PFF Normalisation Committee chairman Haroon Malik ended on February 15th, with FIFA expressing concerns over the ongoing administrative problems in Pakistan football.
A source in the Congress stated that members decided to make the amendments, as the suspension had led to FIFA freezing all grants and development funds allocated to the PFF.
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