Sir: Football is the most popular sport in the world, and is played by over 250 million people, across 200 countries. The FIFA World Cup is also one of the most watched sporting events in history, and sets viewing records every time it takes place. Even in Pakistan you can find people who are very passionate about the sport, and would even give up everything for one chance to represent their country on the global stage. However, due to the many problems facing Pakistan today, sports, especially football, are completely ignored. What the sport needs in this country is additional support from the government, both financially and logistically. As with any sport in the world, the focus should be on developing grass roots programs that teach children the basic of the game starting from a very young age. These skills can then be developed over time. China and Japan are two of the biggest examples of countries with no history of football whatsoever, which have, over time, been transformed in to behemoths of the game. Even though the Chinese are yet to achieve anything significant on the international stage, they have been investing a lot of time and money into developing their local football leagues. Even India has done a lot to support football in their country, and even managed to host the Under-17 football World Cup in 2017. Unfortunately, the Pakistan football team has not enjoyed the same type of assistance from its government, which is why we have never managed to qualify for any major international tournaments. Thus, I would like to call on the Pakistan Sports Board to give this beautiful game the time and support it needs so that fans of the sport in the country also have something to cheer about in the future. MUHAMMAD GHAZAIN HUSSAIN Karachi Published in Daily Times, June 13th 2018.