KARACHI: The 1st Naya Nazimabad Quaid-e-Azam Departmental Football tournament, carrying 16 outfits, will kick off here at the KMC Stadium from November 19. Ahmed Jan, the chief organiser, told ‘The News’ on Thursday after a press briefing that the draws would be held on November 18. “Just now I have come to know that PIA have confirmed their participation,” said Ahmed, a former FIFA referee. “We had kept KMC as an option in place of PIA, but now that they have confirmed we have dropped KMC because of financial issue,” he added. The event is being held under the auspices of the District Football Association (DFA) South which is headed by Nasir Karim. Nasir is also the tournament director.Ahmed said that the teams would be put in four groups with the leading two sides progressing to the quarter-finals. He said that the knock-out stage matches would be conducted after December 1. The event will last till December 10.Ahmed said that one match would be played on the opening day. After that two matches would be conducted daily. He said he took the step of holding the event in order to put some life in the sport which has been suffering since April 2015.“We can only hold such events and I think it’s the best service at this time when the players and the game need such a support. We have been facing financial issues but we are confident we will be able to conduct the event in a befitting way,” Ahmed said. The winners will be handed over a purse of Rs150,000 and the runners-up Rs100,000.The best player, the best goalie and the top scorer will also be given cash prizes. “We will charge the spectators only 20 rupees. We want to say that from today onwards nobody will witness football matches for free,” he said. He said that special permission for conducting this event has been taken from the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Administrator Justice Asad Munir. “We have got permission from the administrator who has been appointed by the court. Rahim Bux Baloch, secretary of Sindh Football Association (SFA), has been creating problems. He and his president Syed Khadim Ali Shah have been served with a legal notice through lawyer Taha Ali Zai which says that nobody as per court ruling can interfere in the affairs of the administrator,” the organiser said. The teams set to feature in the competitions are: Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Ashraf Sugar Mills (ASM), Gwadar Port, Karachi United (KU), PWD, Sindh Government Press (SGP), Steel Mills, PACA Chaman, PIA, Muslim Trading Chaman, Sindh Police and Asia Ghee Mills Bahawalpur.
