![PFF endured huge losses, lack of activity in three years: Faisal [Dawn]](https://footballpakistan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Faisal-Saleh-Hayat-back-in-PFF-House.jpeg "PFF endured huge losses, lack of activity in three years: Faisal [Dawn]")
by Mohammad Yaqoob
LAHORE: President of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has claimed that besides the unlimited loss to the players, coaches, referees and many others, the federation has suffered a financial loss of Rs70 million in different heads, during three-year’s control over the FIFA House by Lahore High Court’s appointed administrator, and someone will have to be answerable for these losses because it were the losses of FIFA and AFC.
Addressing his maiden press conference at the FIFA House after taking control from the administrator on March 1, Faisal said precious three years of footballers, coaches and referees had been lost, just because of the unfair interference of the government in PFF affairs.
“Soon after taking the charge, the PFF hired the services of an audit company, which disclosed that damages to the FIFA building will require a sum of Rs33.5 million while the football equipment in the store of the FIFA House worth Rs33.5 million is also missing,” he claimed.
“Besides that, the administrator and other staff also withdrew the amount of Rs33.5 million as salaries, without holding a single football activity in the three-year span,” he said. “The data base, which we prepared registering 80,000 players and several football clubs is also missing and it is not an easy task to put the football’s affairs back on the track.
“On my request, FIFA is sending a delegation to Lahore on March 23 to personally examine the present condition of the PFF to prepare a roadmap to put the affairs back on track,” Faisal said.
FIFA lifted the suspension on the PFF last month after the division bench of the LHC ordered the administrator to handover the control of the FIFA House to Faisal, overruling its single bench decision given around three years ago to appoint an administrator, retired justice Asad Munir, to run the PFF. FIFA then banned the PFF in October last year due to the third party interference.
Faisal also claimed that soon after taking the charge by the administrator, some three years back, the accounts of his tenure years were audited but nothing wrong was found as he did nothing wrong in his tenure.
He said now it must have become clear on everyone that only those national sports federations could work which had affiliation with their international bodies.
He said players, referees and coaches were biggest losers in all the three-year fight which was held just to elect Captain (retd.) Safdar as PFF president in 2015. “The government forcibly occupied the FIFA House through its armed supporters,” he alleged.
According to Faisal, the first executive committee meeting of the PFF was held at the FIFA House on Saturday which endeavoured to prepare an activity programme. He said two most qualified coaches of Pakistan, namely Shahzad Anwar and Sajjad Mahmood, had been appointed as Director Technical and Director Competitions to start the football activities.
He said as the PFF has no money at the moment, it has written a letter to the AFC to issue a special grant of $300,000 to the PFF to start its activities.
Last year, Faisal said, he had signed an MoU with Chinese Football Association, which is an emerging power of the world in football, to help out the PFF. He said due to administrator’s control, he could not disclose the development according to which the Chinese would help the PFF, both in administration and technical sides.
He said the executive committee also prayed for the departed souls of the football family, who had died in these three years and among them are national player Shalyla Balouch, Tauseef Ahmad and Nasir and a staff member Babar Khan. He also thanked presidents of FIFA and AFC for extending their support to him during the last three years.
For the future plans, he said an Under-16 girls football tournament will be held every year after the name of Shalyla Balouch. Announcing a programme of fooball tournaments, Faisal said Pakistan Premier League would start in October this year.
Besides that, the National Challenge Cup will be the first tournament to be held in August. “A national women football championship will also be held while courses for coaches and referees will also be staged,” he said.
Faisal said Pakistan also had to compete at the Asian Games, SAF Championship, and various U-16 and U-19 continental tournaments this year.
Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2018
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The News adds:
KARACHI: And, finally, some good news emerged. The freshly-restored Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Saturday announced that Pakistan will feature in this year’s Asian Games and SAFF Championship.
“National football teams will feature in the Asian Games and SAFF Championship,” the PFF chief Faisal Saleh Hayat announced at a press briefing after chairing the PFF ExCo meeting at the FIFA Football House in Lahore.
The Asian Games are slated to be held in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2, while SAFF Championship is penciled in for September 4-15 in Bangladesh.
The PFF senior-vice president Syed Khadim Ali Shah, vice-presidents Rubina Irfan and Sardar Naveed Haider, Mohammad Jan Mari, Fazal-ur-Rehman, Col (retd) Ijaz-ul-Haq, Arif Rahim, Ayaz Zahoor, Anwar Qureshi and Saleem Sheikh also attended the meeting.
This was after a long three years that PFF held its ExCo meeting. The world football governing body restored the membership of Pakistan few days ago after it had suspended it on October 10 last year. FIFA’s decision to lift sanctions came hardly a few days after Lahore High Court’s (LHC) division bench declared the PFF June 30, 2015, elections as legal.
The PFF also unveiled its plan that Pakistan women sides would also take part in the Under-16 and Under-19 SAFF Cups. The federation also decided that it will begin its activities with the National Football Challenge Cup.
“The PFF National Challenge Cup will be the opening event of our football activities which will be followed by other domestic and international events including Premier Football League, National Women Championship, referees and coaching courses,” Faisal said.
The ExCo also approved the appointment of Shehzad Anwar as PFF Director Technical and Sajjad Mehmood as Director Competitions. Sargodha-based Shehzad is the only pro-license coach and is a young and highly talented man. He was also head coach of Pakistan team in the 2016 SAFF Cup in Nepal. Sajjad, who is a coach of Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), has also served as Pakistan’s assistant coach for several years.
Faisal said during last three years, the building of PFF headquarters has been badly damaged and a private company has estimated Rs33 million to be spent on its rehabilitation.
“We have written a letter to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for a special grant to restore the condition of the PFF secretariat” Faisal said.
Published in The News, 18 March 2018
The Nation adds:
Lahore – The executive committee (EXCO) meeting of the Pakistan Football Federation held here at the PFF Headquarters Saturday under the chair of its president Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh after a gap of 3 years.
Those who attended the EXCO meeting were senior vice president Syed Khadim Ali Shah, vice president Madam Rubina Irfan, vice president Sardar Naveed Haider Khan, M Jan Mari, Dr Fazal, Col (R) Ijaz Ul Haq, Arif Rahim, Ayaz Zahoor, Anwar Qureshi and Saleem Shaikh.
FIFA has restored the membership rights of the PFF , which were suspended in October 2017 after few days of restoration of Faisal Saleh Hayat-led body by Lahore High Court Div Bench.
Faisal Saleh Hayat formally announced the starting of domestic and international activities of football . “The PFF National Challenge Cup will be the opening event of our football activities which will be followed by other domestic and international football activities including Pakistan Premier League, National Women Championship, Referee and Coaching Courses while Pakistan National Football Teams will also participate in Asian Games and SAFF Championship and Women U-16 and Women U-19 SAFF Championships” the PFF chief announced.
Faisal thanked to Almighty and the entire football family for supporting him in tough times. “I am especially thankful to FIFA president Infantino Gianni and AFC chief Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa for their support throughout the difficult times,” he said and added: “They have kept endorsing our principle stand in the odd moments of Pakistan football .”
The PFF chief said that during the past 3 years, building of PFF Headquarters is badly damaged and a private company has estimated Rs 33 million for its rehabilitation. “We have written a letter to the AFC for issuing a special grant to bring the PFF Headquarters back into its previous state,” he said.
“We are also thankful to the Division Bench, Lahore High Court, which has removed the administrator, who did nothing for almost 3 years but wasted Rs 35 million on his pay and allowances out of the FIFA grants provided to PFF only for the development of Pakistan football ,” he added.
In Executive committee meeting , restoration of football in Pakistan was discussed while approval of appointment of Shehzad Anwar as Director Technical PFF and Sajjad Mehmood as Director Competitions was also given in the meeting .
At this occasion, the EXCO also prayed for the souls of departed Advocate Asma Jahangir, footballers Shahlyla Baloch, Tauseef Ahmed and Nasir and PFF Staff Babar Khan. President PFF announced that U-16 Women Championship will be dedicated to Late Shahlyla Baloch for good. He also admired the services of Rubina Irfan’s family (mother of late Shahlyla Baloch) while expressing PFF’s deepest sympathies to her family, for the development of football in Pakistan.
Faisal also said that the halting of football during the previous 3 years has demolished the foundations of football which we laid in the last decade doing all the hard work. He has also questioned the elements who have caused the destruction of Pakistan football that what they have got out of this all except bringing bad name on the country.
Talking about Leisure League 2017, in which 6-7 foreign players participated and Coca Cola FIFA Trophy Tour of Pakistan in February 2018, he said that these were just cosmetics events contributing nothing to the development of football in Pakistan while he was also confident to take the football of Pakistan to new heights through hard work and dedication.