Football should not suffer: Asad Munir

A decision will soon be made on U16 and U19 events, says Pakistan Football Federation's administrator

KARACHI: The Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) Lahore High Court (LHC)-appointed administrator, Asad Munir, feels that footballing activities in the country should continue according to schedule despite the ongoing power struggle at the top.

Munir was appointed as the administrator by LHC on July 23 and took charge in the first week of August.

The administrator has said that the PFF’s affairs have been running smoothly on a day-to-day basis. “I have taken over the PFF and there haven’t been any issues,” Munir told The Express Tribune. “I would like us to take part in footballing activities as initially planned and the sport should not suffer.”

Munir added that the decisions about the upcoming international events including the Asian Football Confederation U16 Championship qualifiers and the U19 qualifiers will be made later in the week.

The administrator further said he is yet to meet Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat’s group, but has met  with Arshad Lodhi and Farasat Ali Shah’s splinter group.

Hayat has been in the PFF office as president since 2003 and was re-elected by a PFF Congress on June 30 despite having an LHC notice to postpone the elections.

With the legal battle between the two groups showing no sign of ending any time soon, a three-member FIFA mission also visited Pakistan to investigate the situation. PFF officials and the Pakistan football community are waiting for FIFA’s statement on the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th,  2015.

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