FIFA to lift suspension imposed on Pakistan Football Federation soon

KARACHI: The crisis in Pakistan's football may finally be over as FIFA’s appointed Normalization Committee has regained control of the headquarters of the Pakistan Football Federation—the FIFA House. 

This action will also pave the way for FIFA to lift the suspension imposed on the Pakistan Football Federation last year.

Haroon Malik, the chairman of FIFA's appointed Normalization Committee, announced on Twitter that the NC has regained control of Football House.

"Congratulations to the football family on the return of Football House. The FIFA NC recognises and lauds the contributions of Dr Fehmida Mirza in achieving this momentous milestone. We thank the entire football family for their support. It is now time to move forward together," he said.

"I would personally express my gratitude to the members of the NC – Shahid Khokhar, Haris Azmat, and Saud Hashimi – for their steadfast and untiring efforts in the face of adversity. I am proud of you. To FIFA for their ongoing support and efforts, we are grateful,"

"Onwards! Get ready everyone – time for Kick-Off. " Haroon wrote in a series of Tweets posted on Saturday morning. 

The PFF office was taken over by Ashfaq Hussain and co. in March last year. The group won the court-ordered PFF elections in 2018 but was not recognised by FIFA.

They had ousted FIFA’s appointed Normalisation Committee in an alleged "hostile takeover," which also led to Pakistan’s suspension from FIFA. FIFA has stated that the suspension will only be lifted when total control of Pakistan football is given back to the Normalization Committee. 

The Ashfaq group had, however, vacated the office in November, but it was then taken over by the Punjab revenue department. The matter was resolved earlier last week after a series of meetings between football officials, the Punjab government and federal minister Fahmida Mirza. 

The normalisation committee is likely to resume its day-to-day affairs from PFF headquarters on Monday.

Haroon told Geo News that this is great news for the Pakistan football fraternity to start their day with. He confirmed that, following the development, Pakistan’s suspension from FIFA will be lifted. 

"This will end our isolation from global football and we will see our footballers back in action very soon," Haroon said.

According to sources, the NC has already prepared an 8-month-long roadmap for the process of elections in the Pakistan Football Federation, and the process will start later this month, which will be supervised by the government of Pakistan.