Sports pariah

The country is less than two weeks away from the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, the first major sports tournament to be hosted solely by Pakistan in over a decade. The only blot on the tournament and Pakistan’s role in it is India’s matches taking place at a neutral venue. Other than that, this event ought to signify Pakistan’s return as a top destination for international sporting events. However, while Pakistan might be on the path to full reintegration when it comes to cricket, this week brought a setback on another sporting front. Federation Internationale de Football Association (Fifa), football's global governing body, has suspended the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) after the PFF congress reportedly refused to adopt the changes to its constitution recommended by Fifa. According to an announcement by Fifa, the PFF has been suspended with immediate effect due to its failure to adopt a revision of the PFF constitution that would ensure truly fair and democratic elections and thereby fulfil its obligations as part of the ongoing normalisation process of PFF. Fifa further says that the suspension will only be lifted if the PFF congress accepts the version of the PFF constitution presented by Fifa and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

This is not the first time Pakistan has faced a suspension at the hands of Fifa, the same punishment having been handed down in April 2021 due to undue third-party interference in violation of Fifa statutes. This suspension was eventually lifted in June 2022. This latest exclusion means that Pakistan's teams are barred from participating in international competitions until the issue is resolved and the PFF will not receive any assistance from Fifa. Sadly, this mishap comes at a time when it seemed like Pakistan’s football scene was making some real headway. The nation participated in the 2023 Olympic qualifiers and advanced to the second round for the first time. This progress would not have been noticeable in many countries, but Pakistan has been a bystander in most sports outside of cricket. In the 1980s and 90s, Pakistan was competing for world championships and world cups in professional Hockey, Squash and Cricket. Those days are now long gone.

The fact that Pakistan is still struggling to merely make it past the door in world football is yet another blow to its sporting ambitions and horizons. There have to be avenues for the nation’s athletes outside of cricket but our sporting institutions seem to be struggling to deliver. The shaky ties with international sports bodies only compound the problems with Pakistan’s lack of a solid grassroots infrastructure for local athletes, depriving it of the international assistance that is vital for sports in developing countries. The PFF must normalise ties with Fifa as soon as possible and build on the success of the 2023 Olympics by channelling resources into grassroots football. The country’s athletes deserve better than to be relegated to spectators due to bureaucratic scuffles beyond their control.