Fabrice Coffrini—AFP
The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on Thursday reinstated the Pakistan Football Federation’s membership after a yearlong suspension imposed due to “third-party” interference.
“The Bureau of the FIFA Council decided on June 29, 2022 to lift the suspension that was imposed on the PFF in April 2021 due to undue third-party interference,” read the statement announced the restoration of PFF’s membership. It said that all previously imposed restrictions were now being lifted, adding that FIFA had received confirmation that the PFF’s normalization committee had regained full control of its premises and was in a position to manage its finances independently.
“As the deadline by which the normalization committee was required to fulfil its mandate—June 30, 2022—is now no longer realistic, the Bureau has also decided to extend the committee‘s mandate until June 30, 2023, at the latest,” read the statement, stressing this would allow the committee to fulfill its duties in full.
However, the PFF was warned that any future interference in its affairs could hinder the fulfilment of the normalization committee’s mandate and lead to the PFF being suspended once again or the imposition of other sanctions, as provided under FIFA Statutes.
Pakistan was suspended by FIFA in April 2021 after the PFF headquarters were seized from the normalization committee by a group of football officials led by Ashfaq Hussain Shah, who claimed that the committee wasn’t willing to hold elections of the body.
The main mandate of the committee is to hold fresh elections, which have been mired in conflict since 2015. PFF officials have said that the immediate result of the suspension’s end would be the national team being able to take part in upcoming tournaments, such as the Asian Football Confederation and various FIFA matches.