Pakistan likely to play international friendlies in March

Since FIFA lifted ban on PFF, Pakistan played their sole international friendly against Nepal in November 2022

February 02, 2023
Pakistan football team before their international friendly against Nepal at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu — PFF 

The Pakistan football team is likely to play international friendlies in March this year, sources said Thursday.

According to the details, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is making efforts for the national men's side to play friendlies.

The officials of the national football governing body are in talks with Thailand, Maldives and Bhutan for matches. The talks were held on the sidelines of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) meeting, recently.

The matches are likely to be held during the window of international friendlies in the last week of March.

In the upcoming days, it will be announced which side will Pakistan face in the friendlies.

Previously, normalisation committee chairman Haroon Malik said that the national senior football team's camp will begin from February 15 in order to launch its preparation for a number of international events to be held this year, including the World Cup Qualifiers.

Earlier, Pakistan played its first international friendly against Nepal after FIFA lifted the ban on the PFF.

However, Pakistan faced a 1-0 defeat after a tough fight between the two sides at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu.

It is worth mentioning here that the national team's players are representing their respective sides in the ongoing National Challenge Cup 2023.

FIFA lifts ban on PFF

FIFA had decided to lift ban on the PFF, which was imposed in April 2021 due to undue third-party interference, in June last year.

FIFA also extended the mandate of the Normalisation Committee (NC) by 12 months.

According to FIFA, the mandate of the normalisation committee includes the managing of PFF’s daily affairs, ensuring the proper registration and scrutiny of the clubs in Pakistan, draft and ratify, with the assistance of FIFA and the AFC, an electoral code for the PFF, organise the elections at district followed by provincial levels and conduct the elections of a new PFF executive committee.

Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.

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