The Pakistan Football Federation have said that by no means will a football league be allowed to start in Pakistan by a private party. The only football league in Pakistan shall be held by the football federation itself. This statement was issued after the owner of the famous PSL franchise, Peshawar Zalmi, Javed Afridi gave his peace of mind on the matter that a PSL like football league should also be held in the country.
In a reply on the matter, the Secretary General of PFF, Manizeh Zainli said, “Recently various quarters have made statements in media and social media about running/starting franchise league or women’s league, Given that Pakistan Football Federation is the governing body of Football in Pakistan (as recognized by FIFA and AFC) any national league (franchise or otherwise) can only be hosted by the PFF. Therefore, no league can be conducted by any entity other than PFF”
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In addition to that, it was also made clear that any unauthorised leagues shall have legal consequences according to PFF. “If any entity tries to conduct such a league, the same will be illegal and sanctions will follow,” the statement highlighted. Moreover, once the Haeir CEO and the owner of Peshawar Zalmi got word of this, he sought to make things clear and while giving an interview to a private news channel, Afridi said that it was never his intention to start such a league without having the PFF’s consent. He adds, “Any such event will be done with PFF, I have already signed contracts with consultants to prepare the model for the league. It will be more financially viable than PSL,”.
“PSL is only for one month but with a football league, we plan to have activities throughout the year. Pakistani investors will surely come to invest money in football. Many brands don’t want to invest in cricket, they’re global football sponsors and they’ll surely invest in football. Cricket is just a commonwealth sport while football is played by 200+ countries,” he said further. According to Javed Afridi, the main aim of the entire operation is to get football back on track and he plans to this with Pakistan’s own football league and he plans to have a football league kick-started by next year.
