FIFA appoints Muneer Sadhana as acting chairman for Pakistan Football Federation

KARACHI: FIFA has appointed Muneer Sadhana as acting chairman of the Pakistan Football Federation normalisation committee after Hamza Khan’s exit from the PFF.

Hamza had earlier informed FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that he does not intend to continue as chairman of the FIFA's normalisation committee in PFF.

The members of the committee, according to a highly placed source, have been informed by FIFA’s Member Association governance about Hamza’s exit and Muneer’s appointment.

Sadhana is known as a professional lawyer and has remained active in football in the Jhang district. He is known as an ally of the former president PFF, Faisal Saleh Hayat.

A source told Geo News that FIFA, on Saturday, informed the normalisation committee members that yesterday (Friday) was the last working day of Hamza Khan as the committee's chairman.

“In order to assure a smooth transition and continuance in the electoral process, Muneer Sadhana has been appointed as acting chairman of the PFF normalization committee,” the source said.

FIFA and the AFC, meanwhile, have initiated the interview process in order to appoint a new chairman and a final decision will be announced in due course.

The source also confirmed that FIFA will also give the normalisation committee an extension in their mandate which was originally due to end on December 31.

FIFA had last year announced it will appoint a normalisation committee in PFF following the conflict between two groups with a mandate to organise and conduct the elections of a new PFF executive committee.

The committee was initially told to complete the task by 15th June 2020. The deadline was later extended to 30th December 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a new crisis within PFF, another extension in the deadline of NC is likely which means more wait time for football fans in Pakistan before things get back to normal.