Until recent past the game most loved and played by masses in the country was the victim of neglect as nepotism, internal bickering among top officials of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) badly hampered the promotion of the game at grassroots level.
Even the inept PFF officials have admitted that football had suffered a lot because of excruciating delays in decisions due to red-tape. Only a few people were sincere with the game, while most of the officials cared little for football.
With change of leadership in the PFF, it now seems things are moving in the right direction and the game and its affairs are, for the first time, being handled by professionals, who realise the importance of sponsorship and the role of media for the promotion of the game.
Soccer fans in the country have lauded the efforts of PFF President Faisal Saleh Hayat, who is instrumental in involving all former national team captains and coaches to suggest tangible steps to boost football at all levels, besides encouraging women football in the country.
They said Faisal Saleh Hayat deserved acclaim for bringing the Asian Cup, for the first time in the in event's 58-year history, to Pakistan. Besides, appointing Bahraini coach Salman, who groomed Pakistan's Under-23 team to win the biannual 10th South Asian Games Football tournament held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in October.
It was Salman, who created history in the 58-year of Pakistan football by becoming first-ever foreign coach to bring gold for Pakistan from abroad. The previous PFF managements hired English, German, Brazilian, Hungarian, Slovakian and Chinese coaches, but none could produce such a result.
Pakistan's former captain Ghulam Rabbani, who led the national team against Myanmar in 1961, said: "The step of bringing three matches of the 14th Asian Cup to Pakistani soil will be ever remembered in Pakistan's soccer history."
He lauded Faisal Saleh Hayat's ambitions to see the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) showpiece event in Pakistan, bringing excitement to soccer enthusiasts in this part of the world.
FIFA RANKING:
Zafar Iqbal, Pakistan skipper in 1993 SAFF Championship, said that Pakistan had improved the FIFA Ranking under Faisal Saleh Hayat. He also gave credit to the PFF President for winning gold in the SA Games.
"In addition, the PFF chief is doing a fine job for Pakistani footballers, administrators, coaches and referees. His decisions will put Pakistan to their deserving spot in future," said Zafar, who also captained Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in the 90s.
Mukhtar Ali (PIA), captain of Pakistan in 1987 and 1988, said the way the PFF was going on nowadays, it looked as if football was taking charge of title of national game, over-running hockey. The arrival of Asian Cup in Pakistan was not expected because the previous PFF leadership used to withdraw from hosting home matches of Pakistan in Asian Cup and preferred to play away to avoid financial burden.
But the present PFF leadership took a bold decision of hosting three home matches against formidable outfits Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan, he said.
PATHETIC PAST:
Coming back to the pathetic past of the game, one may recall the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) had sent British coach John Layton to train the age-group and national teams members.
Layton bitterly criticised the culture of nepotism, internal bickering among PFF officials, and said dirty politics hampered the promotion of sport in the country.
Layton, who started his work in December, 1999 from a scratch, said he would always remember the association with his trainees whom he termed an asset for Pakistan. Despite a lot of bad people in the PFF, I will always cherish the kind of response and aspect I received from the players. I would love to come back to Pakistan if invited," he said. Layton suggested involvement of professionals and provincial associations in the PFF to chalk out development plans, allocation of separate budgets for the provinces. He also stressed the need for accountability and checks and balances on the officials.
He reiterated that the PFF must start national league as, he said, it was the only way the players would be able to play some 40 to 50 matches in a year.
LAYTON'S SUGGESTIONS:
The present PFF management, keeping in view the suggestions of the British coach took some concrete steps to bring the national soccer out of the gloom. Besides hectic schedule of tournaments, like the ongoing 52nd National Football Championship.
Meanwhile Pakistan, who have been awarded a bye, will face Japan in the qualifying round of the 30-nation 15th Asian Games 2006, commencing on November 28 at Doha, Qatar. Pakistan-Japan encounter will be witnessed on November 29.
Pakistan have been placed in Round-2 (Group F) with favourites Japan, North Korea and Turkmenistan. Held every four years, the first Asian Games was played in Indian capital New Delhi in 1951.
Pakistan have a proud record against Japan, who are current Asian Champions and runner-up of Asian Games soccer event. Both the teams share one win in the previous three meetings, while one match ended in a draw. The Doha's encounter will be the first between the two nations in Under-23 level as the previous three matches were contested between the national teams of both the countries.
All the previous matches were played at Kuala Lumpur. The first Pakistan-Japan encounter was held on August 10, 1960 when Qayyum Changezi-led the green-shirters to a 3-1 win in fourth Merdeka Cup. Two years later, the sixth edition of the same event in 1962 provided 1-1 thriller.
Japan managed to register their first win over Pakistan on June 17, 1988 when Mukhtar Ali-led team lost 1-4 in the ninth Asian Cup Qualifier. Pakistan's second encounter will be against Democratic People's Republic of Korea on December 3, while their third match will be against Turkmenistan on December 6.
Comments
Comments are closed.