LAHORE - Football ruling body FIFA has extended the mandate of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) till March 2020.

The FIFA Member Association’s Committee held its meeting on September 26, 2018 where, after taking into account all relevant factors, the PFF has been informed through a letter written by the FIFA Secretary General that the elections of PFF to be held after certain requirements have been met. “The committee was apprised of the developments since the lifting of the suspension of the PFF on March 13, 2018,” the FIFA letter says.

“The committee has also deliberated on the situation of Pakistan while giving due importance to the recent past happenings in the honourable courts of Pakistan. The committee took note of the two decisions issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the situation of the PFF,” says the letter.  “The committee was also informed about the visit of the PFF President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, to the Home of FIFA in Zurich that took place on September 4, 2018. In this regard, it was briefed in detail on the contents of your letter dated September 13, 2018, especially with regard to the PFF’s request on the extension of the tenure of the PFF executive committee and the proposed roadmap.  “In its deliberations, the committee underlined that the original mandate of the PFF executive committee (i.e‚ June 2015 until June 2019) should in principle be respected. However, it acknowledged that certain important steps needed to be taken to ensure that the PFF elections are carried out properly.

“In particular, the committee noted that the PFF Statutes need to be aligned with the requirements of FIFA and the FIFA statutes as well as that the clubs eligible to participate in the electoral process have to be scrutinized. Based on the aforementioned, the committee decided that the PFF needs to revise its statutes in order to align them with the requirements of FIFA and the FIFA statutes and in parallel, carry out the scrutiny of the clubs.

“Once these steps have been completed, elections of a new PFF executive committee shall be held in a timely manner, but at the latest by the end of March 2020. The committee further mandated the FIFA administration to elaborate a roadmap laying out the aforementioned steps and taking into account the input of the PFF. In this regard, the FIFA administration will contact the PFF in due course,” the letter added.

Commenting on this, PFF President Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat has lauded the steps taken by FIFA and assured the football ruling body of not only completing the PFF well in time but also of making the PFF statues in accordance with the FIFA statues.  “We are grateful to FIFA for respecting our mandate and hopefully, it will be made in accordance with the FIFA statues in the given time. We are keen to make PFF house in order so that we may fully focus on betterment of Pakistan football, teams and players and help the country improve the standard of the game gradually,” he added.