PFF NC launches Pakistan Football Connect programme

PFF NC launches Pakistan Football Connect programme

  • All stakeholders to be registered in centralised system
  • Clubs, officials, players, coaches and referees all eligible for registration
  • Dedicated PFF staff, helplines to facilitate registration
  • Futsal stakeholder registrations also open
  • Pakistan Football Connect to also govern school, college and varsity football as well as recreational football, beach football

Less than two months after retrieving control of the Football House, the Normalisation Committee (NC) of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has unveiled the “Pakistan Football Connect” programme in Pakistan – a revolutionary stakeholder registration and management system that is powered by FIFA.

“I want to congratulate the community on the launch of the Pakistan Football Connect programme,” said Malik while speaking at a packed press conference at the home of Pakistan football, Football House.

“We now have a way to ensure that no stakeholder in Pakistan football is left unregistered or uncounted. This is the foundation of a robust system that Pakistan football was searching for and after many decades, we now have it.”

The FIFA Connect Programme helps football associations across the world organize their football in a more systematic and transparent way.

Each stakeholder – clubs, officials, players, coaches and referees – is registered digitally and issued a unique FIFA ID. This code is like a digital football passport number and has the information of the history of each stakeholder.

In practice this means that a player’s Connect ID, for example, will store their performance data such as which competition they’ve played in, which clubs have they represent, how they’ve performed, so on and so forth. Similarly, a referee’s involvement, performance and experience can be tracked – and subsequently, their training and posting opportunities decided on merit.

The Pakistan Football Connect programme is headquartered in Karachi with dedicated staff working to facilitate the registrations of various football stakeholders across Pakistan.

“For the ease and comfort of the football community in Pakistan, we have introduced the Urdu version of the program alongside the English version. Through such facilitation in the system we hope to remove any accessibility barriers that the community may face. Club organizers will be able to work in a language they are comfortable with. They can also contact the officials concerned through a dedicated help-line and find information and guidance in English, Urdu and regional languages as well.”

Haroon further said: “The NC has been trying to revolutionise football structure in Pakistan by registering the clubs, academies, associations, universities and schools under “FIFA Connect ID” program. The PFF is also planning to institutionalise futsal, beach and other formats of football including E-football and will not only promote them but also provide proper support to further popularize these games.”

NC Committee member and Pakistan Football Connect officer Saud Hashimi has said that “Pakistan Football Connect” office in Karachi will provide every possible guidance to all the stakeholders timely so that the registration process may be completed well in time. “The NC is trying to compile an authentic record of the football family of Pakistan including players, referees, coaches and club organizers.

“We also compile a complete data of professional, amateur, junior and club players. The complete process will be completed in a fair and free manner and merit will be our top priority. The genuine stakeholders will be fully supported while the fake clubs, officials and players will be weeded out. We have also laid the foundations of a fair structure through this system based on FIFA Connect ID and it will help in conducting the PFF elections in a fair and transparent manner,” he added.

Hashimi added that the entire system will be established and maintained in a professional way and it will help in attracting maximum sponsors for players and football of Pakistan.

“Football is the most played game of the world and it has all global corporate giants on board across the world. In Pakistan too, we will popularize in such a way that it will be the first priority of Pakistan’s corporate giants as well.”

پاکستان فٹبال کنیکٹ پروگرام کا آغاز ہوگیا

فیفا ”کنیکٹ آئی ڈی“ پروگرام کا آغاز ہوگیا، پاکستان کی تاریخ میں پہلی بار رجسٹریشن ونڈو کھول دی گئی، اس حوالے سے لاہور میں پریس کانفرنس کرتے ہوئے فیفا کی نامزد نارملائزیشن کمیٹی کے چیئرمین ہارون ملک نے کہا کہ ”پاکستان فٹبال کنیکٹ“ کا نام سے متعارف کرائے جانے والے پروگرام کیلئے ایک الگ دفتر کراچی میں قائم کرتے ہوئے خصوصی عملہ بھی تعینات کیا گیا ہے.

فٹبال برادری کی سہولت کیلئے ویب سائیٹ کا اردو ورژن بھی دستیاب ہے، ایک مختص فون نمبر پر رہنمائی اور معلومات حاصل کرنے کیلئے سٹاف سے نہ صرف کہ اردو اورانگلش بلکہ علاقائی زبانوں میں بھی بات کی جاسکے گی۔ انھوں نے کہا کہ کلبز، اکیڈمیز، ایسوسی ایشنز، یونیورسٹیز اور سکولز کی رجسٹریشن کرکے پاکستان فٹبال کا ایک مربوط اسٹرکچر سامنے لارہے ہیں، پی ایف ایف فٹسال، بیچ، محدود تعداد کے فارمیٹس اور ای فٹبال کو بھی اپنے دھارے میں شامل کررہی ہے۔

رکن نارملائزیشن کمیٹی اور ”پاکستان فٹبال کنیکٹ“ پروگرام کے ۔۔۔۔۔سعود ہاشمی نے کہا کہ پاکستان فٹبال سے وابستہ تمام افراد کا ایک مستند ریکارڈ مرتب کررہے ہیں، ان میں پروفیشنل، ایمچیور،جونیئر کھلاڑی،ریفریز، کوچز، کلب اور ٹیم آفیشلز سب شامل ہیں، شفاف سسٹم میں حقیقی اسٹیک ہولڈرز کا تعین ہوگاجبکہ بوگس کلبز، جعلی کھلاڑی اور آفیشلز باہر ہوجائیں گے،پی ایف ایف کے آئندہ انتخابات کیلئے سٹرکچر بھی اسی سسٹم سے ملے گا،”پاکستان فٹبال کنیکٹ“ سے فٹبالرز، آفیشلز اور کلبز کی ایک انٹرنیشنل پروفائل بنے گی،پورا سسٹم پروفیشنل بنیادوں پر استوار ہونے سے سپانسرز کی توجہ حاصل کرنے میں بھی آسانی ہوگی، کراچی میں قائم دفتر سے سٹیک ہولڈرز کی رہنمائی کیلئے ہر ممکن سہولت فراہم کریں گے تاکہ رجسٹریشن کا عمل جلد سے جلد مکمل کیا جاسکے۔