Secretary General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Football Association and former international footballer Basit Kamal Sunday said that big teams are coming to Peshawar to participate in the prestigious All-Pakistan Challenge Football Cup to be commencing from October 1, 2016 here at Qayyum Sports Complex.
Former national team skipper Basit Kamal informed that they have conducted a day long trail wherein more than 161 football aspirants turned up and out of 161 players they have announced 48 players - 24 members each for KP Red and KP White teams.
He said a selection committee headed by former international footballer of the 1960s Ghafoor Ajiz (Peshawar), with other members comprising Hizbullah Khan (Tank), Mohib Ullah Khan (Kohat), Ghaffar Khan (Dir).
He said Sageer (District Nowshera) and Ghafoor (District Dir) have been appointed as coaches of both Red and White teams to represent the province. He said 24 players each would be part of the two teams and most of the youngsters have been provided opportunities to play against top teams to be part of the Challenge Cup.
He said after a lapse of 30-35 years, such big teams coming to Peshawar. He said the association despite meager resources decided to select upcoming youngsters in the team to play big matches against top teams.
He said players would be provided all out facilities including playing uniform, travelling and daily allowances. Certainly, keeping 24 players in one team would cost extra to the association but the decision was taken only to provide ample opportunities to the players associated with the game.
The short-listed probables including Goal-Keepers: Usman, Raza Javed, Nadeem, Ikram, Amjad, Farhan.
Defenders: Arsalan, Raheem Gul,a Maroof Gul, Amir Saddique, Faizan, Amir, Shahnawaz, Nihar, Alamgir Khan, Shakoor, Noor Muhammad, Safdar, Hashir, Waheed.
Forwards: Shahab, Shahzaib, Khalid, Mirnawaz, Imdad Ullah, Waqar, Hassan, Saddam, Farooq, Siraj, Waheed Hameed, Hamayun, Usama, Hussain, Khalid, Izhar, Qasim, Abdul Samad, Waqar, Waqas of Swabi, Zahoor, Sayyam, Asim, Inam, Babar, Haider Ali, Jalal, Taimur and Wahab.
All the short-listed players have been asked to report to the coaches Sageer and Ghafoor at Tehmas Khan Football Stadium on September 28 (Wednesday) at 2.00 P.M.