KARACHI: Their demeanor is such that it seems the officials of the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee feel they are a godsend for the sport in the country. Now, they’re talking like that too.

Speaking in defence of the Pakistan Football Connect Progr¬a¬mme for club registration — the first step towards holding the elections of the PFF, NC chief Haroon Malik was a tad brash. The extensive Connect Progra¬mme has provoked the ire of the grassroots officials and stakeholders — those who are expected to contest the elections whenever they are held by the PFF NC but Haroon is vocal in saying he isn’t at fault. “If the PFF had done their job regarding registration and scrutiny of the clubs over the past 75 years, I wouldn’t have needed to do this,” Haroon told reporters on the sidelines of the opening game of the National Challenge Cup at the KPT Stadium here yesterday.

The question remains whether freshly-registered clubs will get a right to vote. The PFF Constitution states that a “club will be considered active and shall be eligible for voting at the annual general body meeting only if it has taken part in at least 90 % matches of the District League championship and has also participated in the District Football championship”.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 26 2023

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