Will Pakistan participate in the SAFF Women’s Championship?

LAHORE: Confusion surrounded the Pakistan women’s football team’s participation in the South Asian Football Federation Championship (SAFF), after reports were released on Tuesday stating the team had not been granted a No Objection Certificate (NOC).

The SAFF Women’s championship is set to kick off on October 17 in Nepal, with the first match featuring India and Pakistan.

However, controversy struck on Wednesday as the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) denied the team a NOC, according to sources.

“Since the instructions issued by the PSB have not been followed, we regret to inform you that, due to time constraints and non-compliance with our procedural requirements, the PSB is unable to process the NOC request for participation in this event,” said the sports board in a letter.

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Sources from the Pakistan Football Federation stated that they finalised the squad and sent the required documents by post on September 16. However, instead of being signed by the chairman of the Normalisation Committee Haroon Malik, the document was signed by committee member, Shahid Khokhar.

The PSB also informed that the documents were submitted after the designated deadline, despite the sports board reminding the PFF of the necessary protocols on September 12.

The team is currently in Islamabad, and was expected to leave for Nepal on October 12, but are currently awaiting a hopeful, last-minute resolution.

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