KARACHI: Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) is set to form its cricket and football teams, a senior official of the department said on Monday. “Yes, we are going to form cricket and football teams very soon,” KMC Senior Director Culture, Sports and Recreation Saif Abbas told ‘The News’. “I am in contact with nine to ten first-class cricketers and hopefully the outfit will be launched formally in 15 days,” he added. He said that the players would be selected only on the basis of merit. He said that 20 players would be picked for each team.About officials, he said that he would try at the first stage to test the department’s officials. “First I would test my own people with expertise in these sports and if they failed to deliver, then we would look elsewhere,” Abbas added.About the football team, he said they would focus on Lyari. “Most of our players in the football team will be from Lyari as it is the hub of the sport and we can find great talent there,” the official said. He said that the players would be taken on contract basis and Rs20,000 monthly salary would be given to them. “And then those players who perform well will be made permanent,” Abbas added. He said that some footballers had already been picked. “We have already taken a few footballers from the KMC team which recently played in a football tournament at the KMC Stadium. We will hold some matches in near future and will complete our team as I don’t believe in trials. We will find gutsy boys through matches,” Abbas said. He said that Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar had approved both the teams. He also revealed that KMC planned to establish football and cricket academies in which players from ten to 15 years of age would be trained. KMC had formed a football team in the past but due to conflict between the provincial government and the local government the team had to be disbanded.
