LAHORE: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has moved closer to uplifting its ban from Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) as the matters between the federal government and Normalization Committee (NC) has been settled.

In a recent development, the federal government has ordered the provincial government of Punjab to hand Lahore’s FIFA football house to NC.

Furthermore, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza also contacted FIFA to share the recent development with the governing body.

On the other hand, the NC also expressed concern over Pakistan’s possible deprivation from the world football competitions.

“Due to FIFA sanctions, the country is deprived of competing in international events,” NC stated.

The committee, however, stated that the team can prepare for FIFA World Cup 2030 qualifiers by competing in the youth tournaments.

“Nine international events will be held this year, including the Asian Games and the Asian Youth Games,” NC stated.

“The team can prepare for the FIFA World Cup 2030 qualifiers by competing in the youth tournaments, whereas the qualifiers for the 2030 World Cup will be held in 2027” the committee added.

Furthermore, the normalization committee is optimistic about hosting both Asian Football Confederation (AFC) mega-events this year.

“Both AFC mega-events could be hosted in Pakistan,” NC.

On the other hand, the chairman NC – Haroon Malik said deprivation of participation in the major events, due to FIFA sanctions would be unfortunate for the country.

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