Russia calls off friendly match with Pakistan over time constraints, team issue

Russia at last, has called off the proposed friendly football match against Pakistan, confirmed by the Russian Football Union (RFU) on Tuesday. 

The union cited time constraints and a lack of clarity over the team composition on Pakistan’s side for cancelling the match. 

In a statement, the RFU’s communication service said that the match, scheduled to take place on October 11 with Pakistan, will not take place in this window.

“The RFU continued to discuss with Pakistan the possibility of a friendly match, however, based on the time frame of the training camp that had begun, it decided not to hold the game,” the statement said.

This development followed a complicated series of events. 

Initially, the Pakistan Football Federation’s Normalisation Committee had expressed its inability to field a national team due to the short preparation time.

“We had informed the Russian Football Union weeks ago that assembling a team for October FIFA window in such a limited timeframe was not feasible. The PFF had then suggested to play in November’s window but no official match was agreed upon,” a PFF source had told Geo earlier.

Despite the PFF’s stance, the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) took an unexpected step by announcing it would send a football team to Russia on its own initiative. 

According to sources, the PSB decided to field a team composed of players from the Islamabad Football Association (IFA), bypassing the PFF’s authority.

A senior PSB official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, had said yesterday that the invitation for the match came directly from the Russian government, specifically through their Minister of Sport. 

The PSB believed it was an important opportunity for Pakistan to strengthen diplomatic relations, so we quickly formed a team from available players in Islamabad.

The PSB-assembled team was not considered an official representation of Pakistan by the PFF.

Sources further disclosed that travel arrangements for the PSB’s team were already in place before the Russian Football Union made the decision to cancel the match.

“Everything was set. The players had been selected, and travel plans were finalized. But today the Russians decided to cancel the match,” the source said adding that a list of 18 to 20 players was already prepared including some players who had recently represented Pakistan in international fixtures.

This would also probably bring some relief to players who were in catch-22 situation after being selected to represent PSB’s team as the move could risk their future with Pakistan Football Federation. 

Pakistan’s national team head coach Stephen Constantine was also not in favor of allowing national team players for this match.

This unusual situation arose after the PFF had earlier declined to play in October window. 

However, the PSB decided to move forward with its own plans and the PSB’s move to send a team without PFF’s oversight created confusion within Pakistan’s football community.

Many questioned the legitimacy of the PSB’s team, which did not include any officially selected national players. 

A source observed that the fact that PSB took it upon itself to send a team raises serious concerns about governance. 

These matches should be handled by the national football federation, not the sports board.

The PSB, according to sources, had initially viewed this match as an important diplomatic opportunity, but the entire process has highlighted the lack of coordination between PSB and PFF. 

Observes believe that allowing PFF to carry on negotiations over football matters would’ve achieved better results.