Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has given go-ahead signal to 14 teams to participate in the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) 2008, to be held in the last week of the current month. Based on the performance, top 12 teams of 2007 PPFL and top two teams of 2007 PFF League will enter the showpiece event of PFF.
Adoption of a two-tier system in domestic soccer is one of the laudable works under PFF President Faisal Saleh Hayat. It may be mentioned that National Football Championship (Tier I) is named as Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL), while National Championship (Tier-II) is known as PFF League.
A spokesman of the federation said that the PFF has to decided to retain top 12 of 2007 PPFL plus top two teams of 2007 PFF League for the event that will erupt 54th National Football Champion of Pakistan.
Titlist Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) will be the hot contender for coming event. The electricity men clinched last edition and joined Karachi as third successful team of the national championship with six titles, after table-topper Pakistan International Airlines (nine titles) and Punjab (eight titles).
Pakistan Army collected the title four times; ABL and Balochistan won the top berth thrice, followed by two-times champion Dhaka, Sindh, Pakistan Railways, and Faisalabad's Crescent Textile Mills. Peshawar, East Pakistan, Chittagong, Habib Bank Limited, Quetta and Pakistan Air Force managed to win the national event once.
The Wapda, along with Pakistan Army, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Navy, Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Chaman's Afghan Club, Faisalabad's Punjab Medical College and Pakistan Television (PTV) qualified for coming 182-match marathon league were among top 12 in the 2007 edition.
Lahore's Pak Elektron Limited (PEL) and Pakistan Steel will enter the 2008 PPFL by finishing winner and runner-up respectively in the 2007 PFF League. The PEL caused sensation on debut when they overwhelmed Pakistan Steel on goal counts after both the team managed 11 points each on January 30 2008 at PAF's Complex, Sector E-9, Islamabad.
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