LAHORE – Normalisation Committee Chairman Haroon Malik has said that he is now keen to help Pakistan get the FIFA ban on the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) lifted, hold free and fair elections and revive football activities in and outside the country.
Haroon expressed these views while addressing a press conference at the PFF Headquarters on Saturday after getting back the FIFA House. Committee members Muhammad Shahid Niaz Khokhar, Saud Hashmi and Barrister Haris Azmat were also present.
“I am highly grateful to FIFA, football community of Pakistan, especially Dr Fehmida Mirza who remained very active throughout the entire episode, President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Board of Revenue (BOR) for smoothly handing over the FIFA House. PSB DG Col. Rtd. Asif Zaman also potentially supported the process. I am also thankful to media persons for their continuous support in this noble cause.
“Besides the above mentioned names, the role played by the Normalisation Committee members is really commendable as they remained firm on the principled stance of the committee, which helped us get back the FIFA House. This firmness and steadiness will further help us put Pakistan football on the right track,” he said.
Sharing his priority list after getting back the hold of FIFA House, Malik said: “First of all, we will make the football house operational. We will gain back the control of bank accounts and physical and digital assets as per FIFA directions. The very first step will help us convince FIFA to lift the ban on the PFF.
“The revolutionary step that will be taken by the FIFA PFF-NC will be rolling out FIFA Connect ID for registration of clubs to start the election process. The online registration system of local clubs will revolutionise Pakistan football clubs, which can be assessed by each and every member of the FIFA. It will make our footballers prosper and give them exposure and reason to adopt football as a professional sport,” he asserted.
“The basic purpose of online registration of local football clubs in each and every corner of the country is to register them in the first phase and then scrutinize them. It will help the NC hold the free, fair and transparent elections of the Pakistan Football Federation.”
The committee head also revealed that the Normalisation Committee will keep Pakistani footballers, who are real stakeholders of the game, and officials engaged in nationals and international football activities.
“Besides focusing on PFF elections and holding them in the given timeframe, the NC will organise international events in 2022 for both genders out of which eight are age specific cum youth events. To prepare our national teams for the international events, we will conduct national events that will help us select the national teams and these teams will then be trained by top national and international football coaches.
“We have all-out support of FIFA in executing our plans and we are very committed and dedicated in achieving our set goals. We need full cooperation from all the stakeholders including government, football family, players, officials and media to take some revolutionary steps that will benefit Pakistan football in the long run,” Malik concluded.
