The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has refused to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) to the Pakistan women’s football team, preventing their participation in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship scheduled for October 17 to 30 in Nepal.

In a letter to the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), the PSB cited delays in submitting the request and the absence of the required signature from the chairman of the Normalisation Committee (NC). The PSB had previously reminded the PFF on September 12 of the necessary protocols for obtaining the NOC. Despite this, the PFF’s submission, sent on September 16, was delayed and signed by NC member Shahid Khokhar instead of chairman Haroon Malik, leading the PSB to decline the request.

The PSB explained in its letter: “Since the instructions issued by the PSB have not been followed, we regret to inform you that, due to time constraints and non-compliance with our procedural requirements, the PSB is unable to process the NOC request for participation in this event."

The Pakistan women’s football team is currently in a training camp in Islamabad and was set to depart for Nepal on October 12. However, without the NOC, their participation in the championship is now uncertain.

This is not the first time Pakistan football teams have faced difficulties with NOC approvals, which have often led to tension between the PFF and PSB. While past issues have been resolved at the last minute, the current situation remains unresolved.