ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) issued No-objection Certificate (NOC) to the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Friday to participate in the upcoming South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship in India.
The Ministry IPC issued the notification, addressed to the Director of Pakistan Sports Board Shoaib Khoso, on Friday.
Upon receiving the NOC from the ministry, Pakistan men’s Football team will now depart for Bengaluru, India on June 18 from Mauritius for the SAFF Championship 2023, scheduled to run from June 21 to July 4.
The national team’s players, alongside coaches and support staff, have already submitted the Visa application to the Indian embassy in Mauritius.
Notably, the Pakistan football team are currently in Mauritius to partake in the four-nation tournament.
The green shirts have thus far played two matches and are yet to taste the triumph as they succumbed to straight losses against host Mauritius and Kenya, the highest-ranked team in the aforementioned tournament.
The second defeat in the tournament means that Pakistan have been knocked out of the tournament but will face Djibouti in their last fixture on June 17.
After concluding their campaign in the four-nation tournament, the Pakistan men’s football team will mark their return to the SAFF Championship after missing the last two out of the 13 editions held since 1993.
The national team has been drawn with India alongside invitee Kuwait and Nepal in Group A while Group B features Bangladesh, Bhutan, Lebanon and Maldives.
The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) could not send its men’s team for the 2015 edition held in India due to the lack of funds.
The national side then missed the 2021 edition as they were serving a suspension from FIFA, which was lifted last year in June.
Sri Lanka will not be participating in the tournament as they are serving a suspension from the football governing body FIFA, while Afghanistan left SAFF and joined the Central Asian Football Federation.
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