February 6 – With world governing body FIFA struggling to implement constitutional reform, elections in Pakistani football may be put on hold yet again.
Football in Pakistan remains in turmoil after the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) rejected amendments to its constitution proposed by FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), thus endangering the presidential elections.
Leading Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that FIFA insisted all amendments must be accepted, but the PFF Congress rejected a crucial amendment that centred around the candidacy of the presidency.
At present, members of the congress or officials of PFF, AFC or FIFA can stand for the presidency, but in a move that is understood to benefit current PFF Normalisation Committee (PFFNC) chairman Haaron Malik, FIFA wants to open up the election to anyone who plays an active role in the game. By opening up the election, members of congress, elected on a regional and provincial basis, would be disadvantaged.
In a statement, the PFFNC said: “As a result, the electoral process, sporting development, and international participation could be suspended until the elected congress adopts the proposed amendments.”
After years of crisis in Pakistan, FIFA established a normalisation committee in 2019, but the committee has failed to restore order at the PFF and focus on the development of the game. Instead, Malik keeps fighting for his own survival at the expense of the game’s betterment.
In a letter to congress, he wrote: “FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation in the strongest terms have opined that while the congress members want to be part of the FIFA family, they do not wish to align with the spirit and principles of FIFA and the AFC, and the newly-elected congress members have created a deadlock. During numerous discussions, both virtual and physical, FIFA has been unwavering on the need for the constitutional amendments to align with the FIFA principles.”
The mandate of the current normalisation committee expires on February 15. Previously, FIFA, through general secretary Mattias Grafstrom, had pushed to pass the proposed amendments, interpreting the idea of democracy in a peculiar fashion.
Grafstrom wrote: “The Bureau [of the FIFA Council] took note that, on 19 November 2024, just before the first Extraordinary PFF Congress could begin, the representatives of six departmental associations that had been excluded from the PFF Congress for failing to comply with statutory requirements requested to participate and vote at the congress.
“To ensure due process and to avoid risking the rejection of the proposed constitutional changes, it was decided not to allow their participation and, instead, that their request for inclusion would be referred to the PFF’s internal bodies for appeal, in accordance with the established procedure.
“As a result, the members of the PFF were informed on the same day that the PFF Congress would reconvene … to adopt the new PFF Constitution once the appeal had been resolved.”
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