FIFA extends NC's mandate by three months

KARACHI: FIFA has given a three-month extension to the PFF Normalisation Committee (NC), well-placed sources told 'The News' on Friday.

It is expected that the world football governing body (FIFA) will disclose this in a press release soon. NC’s tenure expired on September 30. This is the fourth time that NC has been given extension since its emergence in September 2019.

Currently Pakistan is suspended by FIFA. However, the world body has kept its appointed NC alive, expecting the situation to normalise and the PFF headquarters to be vacated which will allow NC to regain its access to the headquarters and accounts.

The IPC minister Dr Fehmida Mirza is acting as a mediator. She met an Ashfaq group delegation recently in order to pave the way for normalising the situation.

The other day a senior official of the Pakistan Sports Board told this correspondent that he is very optimistic about the resolution of the dispute.

Just days after the Ashfaq group re-assumed the control of the PFF headquarters in March, FIFA slapped Pakistan with a suspension in the first week of April. And FIFA will only lift the suspension when its NC regains access to the PFF headquarters. A couple of years ago NC was formed by FIFA to hold elections of the PFF within nine months. However, nothing was done and subsequently mandates were extended several times but nothing positive could be done towards holding the PFF elections.

NC in August this year met President Arif Alvi and NC later shared its elections roadmap with the government. But the Ashfaq group has said that the current NC is not acceptable.