The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has been suspended by FIFA immediately, because of “undue third-party interference.” Until the suspension has been lifted, Pakistan international and club teams cannot take part in any international competitions, FIFA said.
Football in Pakistan came to a standstill in 2015, after Faisal Saleh Hayat was elected as the federation president of Pakistan, amidst allegations of vote-rigging. An administrator appointed by the high court took over the reins at PFF in a failed attempt to resolve the problem, however, this violated FIFA’s rules on political interference.
“The Bureau [of the Fifa Council] took this decision as a result of the fact that the PFF
offices and its accounts remain in control of a court-appointed administrator, which constitutes a violation of the PFF obligations to manage its affairs independently and without influence from any third parties in accordance with the FIFA Statutes,” Fifa said in a statement.
“The suspension will be lifted once the PFF offices and access to the PFF accounts are returned to the PFF.” This suspension also means no PFF members and officials can apply for development grants or training courses run by FIFA or Asian Football
Confederation.
This latest controversy is only the tip of the iceberg for Pakistan football. The Pakistan
international side is now ranked at 200, an all-time low world ranking for them, this is due to the fact that the team has not played any games since 2015.
This coupled with there being no professional league in the country only makes it
worse for Pakistani football. Hayat has appeared in Lahore High Court in an attempt to take over PFF again. Even if the suspension was eventually lifted, there is still a
very long way to go yet for Pakistan Football.
