PFF facing suspension from FIFA

Neither of the two parties have managed to make any headway as football continues to suffer

KARACHI: Football in Pakistan has come to a standstill in the past one year, with the country ranked an embarrassing 200^th in the world, but there seems to finally be a breakthrough in the stand-off.

However, it may not be the positive development many had been hoping for, with the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) facing a possible suspension from world governing body FIFA for not fulfilling its "obligations under Articles 14 and 19 of the FIFA Statutes”.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a FIFA spokesperson said, “The situation of the PFF was discussed by the FIFA Member Associations Committee during its meeting on July 4. It was discussed that the potential extension of the deadline (from 30 September 2017 to 30 June 2019) to revise the PFF statutes and organise elections will be conditional on the strict implementation of an action plan and a regular reporting mechanism.”

The spokesperson also discussed the complications in the case. “The committee pointed out that, while court proceedings are still ongoing, the court-appointed administrator continues to occupy the PFF offices and control its accounts,” he said. “Therefore, the committee decided that if the PFF offices and access to the PFF accounts are not returned to the PFF Ieadership — Ied by Mr Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat — by 31 JuIy 2017, it would recommend to the FIFA Council to suspend PFF for contravening its obligations under Articles 14 and 19 of the FIFA Statutes.”

The PFF has been a controversial entity since 2015 when Hayat — president for three consecutive terms since 2003 — was accused of embezzling funds and holding unfair elections of the Punjab Football Association, while trying to manipulate the PFF congress in order to get another term in the June 2015 elections that took place in the presence of an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) official.

However, by July 2015 the Lahore High Court (LHC) had appointed an administrator — retired judge Asad Munir — to run the affairs of the federation and take charge of the PFF headquarters in Lahore and hold fresh elections. The PFF accounts were also ordered to be supervised by Munir.

Meanwhile, the FIFA committee decided to give a two-year extension to Hayat in September 2015 after a three-member FIFA mission visited Pakistan to look into the matter. The FIFA Executive Committee concluded that Hayat should revise the PFF statutes in accordance with FIFA’s and hold fresh elections in this period, admitting that the federation's “judicial bodies including the disciplinary committee, were not properly formed due to the lack of separation of powers”.

The two-year extension expires this year and so far neither the LHC-appointed administer nor Hayat’s administration have made any progress in either holding elections or revising the statutes. This stalemate between FIFA and Pakistan’s judicial system has brought all football to a standstill in the country.

The AFC has also backed Hayat incessantly, with the AFC Executive Committee recommending FIFA in May to extend Hayat's term till 2019.

Hayat and his officials have been out of the PFF offices since 2015, and claim that they cannot do their job due to government intervention, with the PFF case being contested in LHC.

FIFA had seemed unaware, or unconcerned, with the struggles of footballers in the country, but have now stepped in to take matters into their own hands.

Article 14 deals with the member association’ obligations including rules such as "[Member Association] to take part in competitions organised by FIFA; to ratify statutes that are in accordance with the requirements of the FIFA Standard Statutes," besides other points.

Article 19 sets out the rules that speak of independence of member association and their bodies. “1.Each member association shall manage its affairs independently and without undue influence from third parties. 2. A member association’s bodies shall be either elected or appointed in that association. A member association’s statutes shall provide for a democratic procedure that guarantees the complete independence of the election or appointment. 3. Any member association’s bodies that have not been elected or appointed in compliance with the provisions of par. 2, even on an interim basis, shall not be recognised by FIFA.”