LAHORE - Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) president Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat Tuesday said that visit of AFC delegation to the country showed the interest and desire of FIFA and AFC for the development of football in Pakistan.
In a statement, the PFF chief said that the international governing body of football FIFA and continental soccer body AFC were committed to develop all aspects football in Pakistan including grassroots, youth, women football and Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) as well.
A three-member delegation of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Tuesday left the country after holding important and result-oriented meetings with Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) officials for the development of the game in Pakistan.
The AFC delegation, comprising Head of Development (AFC) Stuart Larman, Development Officer (AFC) Essam Alsuhibani and AFC Kick-off Project Pakistan Joe Palmer, visited the country on the agenda of introducing the basic club licensing system to transform the departmental teams into clubs and to develop the marketing strategy of the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) based on the market research. PFF secretary Lt Col (r) Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi, Director Development and Competitions PFF Pervaiz Saeed Mir, Directors MAs and Projects Lt Col (r) Farasat Ali Shah, Manager Media and Marketing Shahid Khokhar, Manager Competitions Rauf Bari and Manager IT Amin Tahir represented the PFF. The PFF said that several meetings were held in which representatives of the leading corporate sector companies and sports channels had interaction with the AFC delegates. “The implementation of club licensing regulations was also discussed in the presence of Wapda, Layalpur FC and Model Town Football Academy representatives where the club showed satisfactory response in this regard,” he added. “In other sessions, with the AFC support, a viable future relationship between the PFF and the corporate sector was discussed comprehensively regarding the top league of the country Pakistan Premier Football League. A very healthy input was given by the companies in this regard which showed their interest in promoting the PPFL,” he asserted. In the end, PFF secretary said AFC officials’ visit was highly productive while AFC delegation thanked him for their warm hospitality.