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Wednesday 30 December 2015

Of corruption, despotism and power-struggles: into the murky world of football in Pakistan [Catch News]

Source: http://ift.tt/Vy84Kp --- Wednesday, December 30, 2015
by Bhargab Sarmah (Catch News, 30 December 2015) “Pakistan has promising bunch of players. But people here prefer personalities before sport. Lack of merit, favouritism, politics for power in the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is not helping the cause of the game in this country,” former Pakistan national team coach John Layton had lamented after leaving his post in 2002. 13 years later, little has changed in Pakistan Football it seems. As seven of the eight South Asian Football Federation (SAFF)-affiliated countries battle it out for the SAFF Suzuki Cup title in Trivandrum, India, the Pakistan national team can only enjoy the action on television. In fact, with the Pak Shaheens already out of the World Cup qualifiers after losing the first round tie to Yemen, it remains unclear as to when the national team will be in competitive action next. PFF power-struggle and the aftermath It was a controversial provincial body election which kicked off a series of events leading to this current crisis. In April 2015, Sardar Naveed Haider Khan, a close aide of PFF President Faisal Saleh Hayat, emerged as the winner in the presidential elections of the Punjab Football Association (PFA). The election was mired in controversy after Khan’s rival Arshad Lodhi saw several of his supporters banned by a PFF disciplinary committee. Months later, when a PFF extraordinary congress suspended Faisal Saleh Hayat, the body split into two different fac ...



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