KARACHI: It has now been made clear by FIFA that elections of the Pakistan Football Federation will not be held unless the congress accepts the constitutional amendments proposed by the global football body.
It is turning out to be a mockery of democracy after the PFF Congress members overwhelmingly rejected the amendments during its extraordinary meeting last month.
“As a result, the electoral process, sporting development, and international participation could be suspended until the elected congress adopts the proposed amendments,” the PFF Normalisation Committee, installed by FIFA in September 2019 after years of crisis in the country’s football governing body, said in a statement on Wednesday.
A letter by PFF NC chairman Haroon Malik to the congress members, a copy of which is available with Dawn, stated a “deadlock has been created”.
“FIFA and the Asian Football Federation in the strongest terms have opined that while the congress members want to be part of the FIFA family, they do not wish to align with the spirit and principles of FIFA and the AFC, and the newly-elected congress members have created a deadlock,” wrote Haroon in the letter. “During numerous discussions, both virtual and physical, FIFA has been unwavering on the need for the constitutional amendments to align with the FIFA principles.”
Stressing that the amendments were “for the future of Pakistan football”, he added that “FIFA’s commitment to compliance is non-negotiable” and that he planned to set up meetings with the congress members to resolve the issue.
During last month’s extraordinary congress meeting, which was held virtually after another one planned for November was postponed, FIFA and the AFC had presented an “all or nothing” offer to the congress members with amendments to be made in entirety or none at all.
While most amendments had been agreed to, the disagreement centred around Article 38 of the PFF Constitution regarding the candidacy of the president.
Currently restricted to members of the congress or officials of PFF, AFC or FIFA, the world’s football governing body wants to open the election to anyone who has played an active role in football management and organisation at any level in the country.
The PFF Congress, which rejected the amendments 19-5, believes that the change will allow anyone who has lost elections at a lower levels — district and provincial — can still run for presidency.
UNRELENTING PUSH
FIFA and the AFC have been relentless in pushing for the amendments.
In his letter to Haroon when the PFF NC was given its latest extension — till Feb 15, FIFA general secretary Mattias Grafström suggested that there had been moves to ensure that the amendments were passed without a hitch during November’s extraordinary congress.
A day before the meeting was to be held, a constitution review workshop was held in Lahore. However, the congress never began after six departments protested their exclusion from the vote.
“..the Bureau [of the FIFA Council] took note that, on 19 November 2024, just before the first Extraordinary PFF Congress could begin, the representatives of six departmental associations that had been excluded from the PFF Congress for failing to comply with statutory requirements requested to participate and vote at the congress,” Grafström noted in the letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn.
“To ensure due process and to avoid risking the rejection of the proposed constitutional changes, it was decided not to allow their participation and, instead, that their request for inclusion would be referred to the PFF’s internal bodies for appeal, in accordance with the established procedure.
“As a result, the members of the PFF were informed on the same day that the PFF Congress would reconvene … to adopt the new PFF Constitution once the appeal had been resolved.”
Dawn had asked FIFA how it could have a truly democratic election of the PFF when — as it is made apparent in the letter — departments were blocked for the fear of proposed amendments being rejected.
Sources in the global football body told Dawn that FIFA would not go down that route. But while the departments were eventually allowed to return to the congress and a majority voted against the amendments, FIFA’s unrelenting push continues.
“It’s an arm-twisting manoeuvre,” a member of the PFF Congress, wishing not to be named, told Dawn.
GOVERNMENT MEETING
FIFA had never expressed explicitly, when it was appointing the Normalisation Committee in Pakistan, that constitutional amendments were part of its mandate.
But Dawn had revealed when the Haroon-led body was installed back in January 2021 in a revamp of the NC, that constitutional amendments will be forthcoming.
Before its push for constitutional amendments, FIFA had vowed it will hold a meeting with government officials, possibly to take them on board with the moves it was suggesting.
That meeting never happened. Whether FIFA revisits that plan, which could potentially ease the way for the constitutional amendments to go through, remains to seen.
Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2025
