Crucial PFF Extraordinary Congress meeting to be held virtually

FIFA has decided to conduct the Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) Extraordinary Congress meeting virtually in order to make the necessary amendments in the PFF Constitution Article 38.

“Yes, delegation of FIFA and AFC will not come to Pakistan this time and FIFA will conduct it virtually,” a highly credible source told Nukta.

The sole purpose of the meeting is to amend the PFF Constitution Article 38 which defines the eligibility criteria for the PFF’s presidency.

FIFA-installed PFF Normalization Committee is expected to announce the date of the Congress meeting in the next two to three days.

NC had convened the Extraordinary Congress meeting on November 19, 2024, at the Lahore’s Pearl Continental Hotel which was also attended by the representatives of FIFA and AFC.

However, the meeting was postponed after representatives of few departments forced their way into the meeting hall despite the fact that they had not been invited to attend it.

The meeting was told by a representative of a department that they were the PFF Congress members and without them the meeting could not be proceeded. On this the representatives of FIFA, AFC and PFF Normalization Committee held separate meeting to discuss the issue and it was decided that the meeting should be postponed.

Rolf Tanner, Head of MA Governance at FIFA, Niren Mukherjee, Head of Deputy Secretary’s Office in the Member Associations Division of AFC and Purushottam Kattel, Head of the South Asian Unit at AFC, were part of the foreign delegation which attended the meeting.

PFF NC had to conduct the PFF elections by December 15, 2024, but the postponement of the meeting impeded the flow of the process. It also forced FIFA to extend the mandate of NC for further two months until February 15, 2025.

NC had not invited Police, Navy, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Railways to the previous Extraordinary Congress due to eligibility issue.

However, these four departments then appealed in response to their omission from the Congress on certain grounds and NC’s legal committee is expected to announce the outcome of the matter this week.

Sources said that the hearing in this matter has already been conducted and the announcement is on the card.

Sources close to these departments are confident that their Congress membership will be restored.

“How they can put us out of the Congress? We are Congress members and inshaAllah our membership will be restored,” a source in one of the major departments told Nukta.

A source told Nukta that slashing the electoral time-frame will also be discussed when Congress will go for the required amendments in the PFF Constitution Article 38.

The nomination of three women Congress members is also one of the pressing issues which Congress will have to resolve before going for the PFF’s president election.

The PFF NC chairman Haroon Malik, who is in Canada these days, has nominated three women including Barrister Maryam Omar, Ayesha Amir Khan and Eshrat Fatima for Congress. NC wants to get benefit of the silence of the PFF Constitution on this matter and wants to make these women directly as Congress members. But Congress sources told Nukta that they will not let NC to do it.

“It’s illegal. We will not allow NC to bring these three women directly into the Congress,” a Congress source said.

As per tradition the PFF supremo nominates these three women but it will be the Congress which will elect them through voting.

It has been learnt that both AFC and FIFA have no reservations over direct placement of the three women into the PFF Congress through the sole approval of the NC’s chairman.

Nukta has learnt that soon after the Extraordinary Congress’s date will be announced the newly-elected Congress members will put their heads together to discuss the meeting agenda and devise a strategy how to handle the amendment to the Article 38.

Congress does not want to make it too wide open unlike the likely stance of FIFA, AFC and NC who want it to open so much that more stakeholders could get a chance to contest for the PFF’s presidency.

The ball is now in the court of Congress and it will be up to it how it handles the situation.

Congress also will not allow FIFA and AFC to press for more amendments except the one required in the Article 38.

“Although we have been notified that they want partial amendment to the PFF Constitution Article 38 and we will stick to it. If there is a need of other amendments in the PFF statutes then Congress will do it within next one year through the assistance of FIFA and the AFC,” a Congress source said.

FIFA, AFC and NC cannot force Congress as it is the main legislative body and its right to legislate has also been safeguarded by the Olympic Charter.

Congress members

Sindh Football Association: Azam Khan, Kifayatullah and Muhammad Siddique; Balochistan Football Association: Jamil Ahmed Sarparah, Nasar Ullah and Abdul Malik; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Football Association: Syed Zahir Ali Shah, Nasarullah Khan and Asghar Khan; Punjab Football Association: Naveed Aslam Khan Lodhi, Zaka Ullah and Raja Muhammad Ishtiaq; Islamabad Football Association: Sheikh Ahmed Rehan; Higher Education Commission Sports Board: Javed Ali Memon; WAPDA Sports Control Board: Muhammad Habib; Pakistan Army Sports Control Directorate: Lt Col Syed Ghayoor Ali Hamdani; Pakistan Football Referees Association: Mohammad Shafiq; Women Champions Club representative: Adeel Rizki.