Daily Times

LAHORE: 14 football nations from South Asia and West Asia have agreed to form a new regional football federation – the South West Asian Football Federation (SWAFF).The inaugural meeting of SWAFF was held in Jeddah on Thursday to formally establish this new body. “Presidents of football federations in South and West Asia met in Jeddah with a senior FIFA official attending as an observer to start the formal process of establishing a new body for football to be known as the South West Asian Football Federation,” said a statement from SWAFF secretariat non Friday. The meeting was attended by Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Maldives, Yemen, Oman, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates.

The new organisation, according to the statement, has been designed to improve the quality of football for people of all ages, genders and levels of ability in the region. Faisal Saleh Hayat, the President of the Pakistan Football Federation hailed the formation adding that it will help Pakistan football grow further. “The initiative of SWAFF is a milestone in the development of football in Pakistan and other nations. There is no doubt it is a new frontier of football,” said Faisal Hayat. The new body plans to work with partners, governments, federations and other interested parties in the region to establish new football facilities, academies, and competitions, which will be developed in harmony and in collaboration with FIFA, AFC, and football federations within South and West Asia, and within existing football structures, schedules and commitments.

“When we spoke about governance, FIFA is really supporting and encouraging such initiatives, FIFA President Gianni Infantino himself has welcomed the initiative,” said Abdulla Aljunaibi, Vice-President of the UAE Football Federation. Funds from new football events and commercial programs will be reinvested into football development to help create a new football sector and culture in member nations that is self-sufficient and fully transparent. Another statement on organisation’s website states that the South West Asian Football Federation (SWAFF) will be a new member association in world football working collaboratively and in harmony with FIFA and Asian Football Confederation in parallel with existing regional football federations in the region.

“The nations of South and West Asia want to work with each other to grow football in the region, and to compete on a more equal playing field at future World Cup competitions and international tournaments,” Dr Adel Ezzat, President and Chairman of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation said in a statement. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) already includes five zonal federations for West, South, Central, East and Southeast Asia countries under its continental umbrella. AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa met with Ezzat to discuss the formation of SWAFF last week, the AFC said in statement. “We had an open and honest discussion on the formation of SWAFF and I made it clear to Mr Ezzat that the AFC had no objection … as long as it remains as a football body outside of the AFC’s zonal structure,” Shaikh Salman, a member of the Bahraini royal family, was quoted as saying. Just five of the 47 member nations of the AFC qualified for this year’s World Cup in Russia – Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea, Japan and Australia, which joined from Oceania in 2006.

Published in Daily Times, June 2^nd 2018.