Pakistan football aims high

PFF president targets better results in 2011.

The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) President Faisal Saleh Hayat is eyeing a berth in the London Olympics and the World Cup qualifiers.

Pakistan are to participate in a host of important events including the fourth AFC Challenge Cup and the SAFF Championship next year, which can help the side to secure a place in the high-profile tournaments.

“We’ve made significant progress in promoting football in Pakistan,” said Hayat. “We’re optimistic about the sport gaining more popularity in the coming years.”

The PFF Congress approved the calendar for 2011 with a budget amounting to more than Rs55 million. The federation also made several amendments in the constitution on the instructions of the AFC’s Vision Asia team, which aims to promote football in developing countries.

“The PFF is committed to implement Vision Asia’s principles of football development in systematically developing the game in Pakistan. We have taken a lot of positives from the Vision Asia principles. Pakistan football made a giant leap when it was steered into AFC’s Vision Asia plan.”

Hayat congratulated Wapda for winning the ongoing Pakistan Premier League and earning a place in  the seventh AFC President’s Cup, and asked the PFF’s operation cell to accommodate two more teams in the tournament’s format.

He also praised Young Rising Star for lifting the sixth National Women Championship, and generally lauded the efforts of female footballers for earning a semi-final spot in their second international assignment during the SAFF Women Championship.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2010.