Pakistan Football Federation Congress Approves Constitutional Amendments, Paving the Way for FIFA Suspension Removal

The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Congress has officially approved amendments to its constitution in a significant move that could potentially result in the lifting of the suspension imposed by FIFA, the world governing body of football. Saqib Baloch, a senior PFF official, confirmed that the Congress members reached a consensus during their meeting on Thursday to implement these crucial constitutional changes. "We have successfully completed the process and the official minutes of the meeting will be forwarded to FIFA. The world body had stated that the suspension on Pakistani football would be lifted only after the necessary amendments were made," said Baloch.

FIFA had earlier this month suspended the PFF after the Congress members refused to make amendments which FIFA deemed necessary for smooth and just governance of the sport in Pakistan.

The world body said Pakistan would remain suspended until the PFF congress made the amendments.

Pakistan football has been run by a normalisation committee appointed by FIFA since June, 2019. The committee was tasked with holding elections and addressing the issues of parallel factions within the football setup, but it has struggled to execute these plans effectively.

Over the past five years, the committee's heads and members have changed multiple times, but the core issues plaguing the sport in Pakistan remain unresolved.

The delay in amending the constitution has occurred because the normalisation committee has been at loggerheads with the state-run Pakistan Sports Board, even though the Pakistan team completed its World Cup pre-qualifying group matches against all opponents last year.

The tenure of PFF Normalisation Committee chairman Haroon Malik ended on February 15th, with FIFA expressing concerns over the ongoing administrative problems in Pakistan football.

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A source in the Congress stated that members decided to make the amendments, as the suspension had led to FIFA freezing all grants and development funds allocated to the PFF.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)