Lahore  -  Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) President Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has hoped that new Prime Minister Imran Khan bring revolution in Pakistan sports and take them to new heights.

Talking to media here at the PFF Secretariat on Monday, Faisal congratulated Imran and also endorsed his announcement of restoring the occupied grounds and establishing new stadiums. “We direly need new grounds and stadiums to promote sports at rapid pace. More stadiums and better infrastructure will guarantee betterment in Pakistan’s sports while increase in number of football stadiums will attract the youngsters towards football, which is the largest playing game of the world and has a phenomenal following in the country.”

The PFF chief also demanded the Prime Minister to provide funds to the football federation, so that the PFF may bring quality and increased skills in Pakistan football. “We have enhanced the dailies of our players and want further raise in it, for which we are in dire need of financial support from the government, as well as private sector. I expect the government to release at least Rs 100 million grant for the PFF as it will help us achieve our goals gradually.”

Young Pakistan football team has recently defeated 161st–ranked Nepal by 2-1 in the South Asian Games 2018 group D match. Faisal dedicated the victory of green shirts to the players, coaches, football lovers and the entire Pakistani nation. “Regaining the control of PFF only in March 2018, we had very less time to prepare for the Asian Games, as we had faced three years illegal occupation of Football House and no activity, but the way the national coaches trained the boys and Pakistan team players gave out their best performance, it has been a tremendous achievement.

“It is just start as we have started from scratch. We have more important tasks ahead including SAFF Championship 2018 and I am quite hopeful that with our sincere and collective efforts, we will succeed in improving Pakistan team’s FIFA rankings. But for this, we need funds, support and interference-free environment, which are key to Pakistan football success,” he added.

The PFF President also clarified that the international coaches have their own standards and set rules, which they followed very strictly and one of those was ‘no compromise on fitness’, as this is helping green shirts giving better results in the mega event. “The head coach has been given all the powers, as he is responsible for the team’s performance. During the training camp, they observed strict physical fitness criteria for the players, which enabled them to build a strong squad for Asiad. But on the other hand, if any player didn’t come up to their criteria and especially lacked physical fitness, they didn’t consider him.

Meanwhile, inside sources told this scribe that when Kaleem Ullah joined the camp, he wasn’t fully fit. When he was asked by the trainer to start training, he ignored the instructions and also left the camp without informing the head coach and very next day, he departed for Turkey to take part in the 5th grade amateur league, which shows he is least bothered about Pakistan football team.

Faisal thanked AFC for sanctioning three hundred thousand dollars for rebuilding of PFF secretariat which was destroyed during the three years occupation by non-footballers, but he said had this not been destroyed, the amount could have been spent on development of Pakistan football and footballers. “We also are focusing on establishing academies all over the country and also want to lay astroturf, as it will help in making the players physically strong.”

The PFF chief also said that FIFA has asked the PFF to revise and amend its statues according to international bodies and also review the congress composition. “We are holding the PFF Congress to deliberate on the matter,” he said.

Faisal also revealed that the PFF has requested Japan Football Association to provide a coach to train Pakistan women footballers. “They have promised us to provide a professional coach. We have a number of assignments for women’s teams in near future.”

About Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL), he said: “We want to bring revolutionary changes in Pakistan Premier Football League, as we have planned to include at least two to three international players in the teams, which will make the league more competitive and enthralling.”

He also disclosed the idea of holding first ever professional Pakistan Football League, which will be launched next year. “The PFF is in talks with its stakeholders to launch its first ever professional football league, which will give the players financial boost and opportunities to play alongside international footballers.”