PFF close to signing partnership deal with UK-based group

KARACHI: Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) president Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah on Tuesday said that they had reached very close to signing a partnership deal with the TouchSky Group for the development of football in Pakistan.“We are in negotiations for football development with TSG and are very close to a solid partnership which I believe will be helpful for football development,” Ashfaq told ‘The News’ after meeting with the company’s head Ahmer Kunwar and former France international footballer Nicolas Anelka in Islamabad on Tuesday.Anelka landed in the federal capital on Tuesday. He addressed a news conference with Ashfaq.Anelka has already announced that he would be part of the World Soccer Stars 2019, in which a couple of football matches would be played at Karachi and Lahore in the last week of April.Anelka is the third global star who visited Pakistan during the last couple of months in connection with the promotion activities for the World Soccer Stars 2019. Brazilian legend Ricardo Kaka and Portugal’s star Luis Figo had toured Karachi and Lahore in January for formal launch of the event which is being organised by England-based TSG.“We discussed in length various subjects relating to football development. We told them that the PFF does not want anything in cash but it wants to strictly implement its ambitious plan for football progress at various levels. I told them that I wanted everything in a very very transparent way. We will do only those things which will help our football,” Ashfaq said.When asked whether TSG would support building Pakistan Premier League, Ashfaq said: “It was its main objective.”TSG chief Ahmer has been taking interest in Pakistan’s football. He was also seen witnessing the last league game of the Premier League in January here at the KPT Stadium.Ashfaq said that the PFF had already prepared a packed calendar for the current year. “We will have events at various levels. You know our federation is cash-starved but we will try our best. We want to take the sport to streets and are determined to form a strong base for future national duty,” said Ashfaq, an engineer by profession.To a query about the newly elected secretary of PFF Siddiq Sheikh, Ashfaq said that he would have to choose one job. “I don’t know whether he is an employee of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). If he is attached with the CAA then definitely he will have to leave that job because working as a PFF secretary is a full time job,” Ashfaq clarified.Earlier, Anelka told the news conference that he had visited Pakistan a couple of years ago. He said he had played a lot of football and now wanted to pass on his experience to others.Anelka said cricket was the leading game in Pakistan, but he hoped that one day football would also be brought to the top level.“There is an abundance of talent in Pakistan and hopefully this long-term programme will prove helpful for Pakistan football,” former Chelsea and Real Madrid star said.Ashfaq-led PFF was formed as a result of the elections conducted under the instructions of the Supreme Court last year.But it is not recognised by the world football governing body (FIFA). FIFA still recognises Faisal Saleh Hayat-led PFF. Ashfaq’s body on Monday took major decisions at the ExCo meeting at Lahore. The decisions are to be ratified by Congress which will meet on March 26.

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