Ex-footballers to hold protest against PFF NC today

KARACHI: Scores of former Pakistan footballers and stakeholders called a protest against the FIFA-appointed Normalization Committee (NC) for its prolonged control of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF).

The demonstration will be held outside Karachi Press Club today (Wednesday) followed by a press conference by the former players and football representatives, who have decided to launch joint efforts under a single platform.

The protest will be led by former Pakistan captains Akbar Raisani and Zafar Iqbal, ex-captain and President Award winner Isa Khan, Karim Baloch, Dr Mohammad Ali, Haji Khalil, Gul Mohammad Kakkar and other district-level representatives.

The platform is distraught over the unnecessary delay in holding the PFF elections and foot-dragging by the NC to transfer the power to an elected body.

It is pertinent to mention that the Normalization Committee’s mandated term expires on June 30, however, the elections are nowhere in sight.

Football affairs in Pakistan have been mired in crisis since 2015 in the absence of an elected body.

FIFA appointed a Normalisation Committee in September 2019 to put the country’s football back on track. FIFA also suspended PFF membership for a 15-month period during that time after the Normalisation Committee was thrown out of office.

The FIFA suspension was only lifted in June last year and extended the mandate of the NC by one year after it regained control of PFF in May.

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