Daily Times

KARACHI: A day after the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee cancelled the National Women’s Football Championship, the rival Ashfaq Hussain-led group has announced it is restoring the tournament. The 13th edition of the championship was called off by the PFF Normalisation Committee after it was allegedly thrown out from PFF offices in Lahore by Ashfaq and his group. Following the development, the Normalisation Committee, in a short message, had announced late Saturday night it is cancelling the tournament, leaving players disappointed ahead of the quarterfinals. However, the Ashfaq-led group said later that it will continue the championship as planned. It also announced a 13-member local organising committee for the matches.

Raheela Zarmeen, who is also working as director women development with the Normalisation Committee, was included as tournament director in the newly appointed committee. “I won’t get any personal benefit with all this; it’s just that a women’s football championship will continue. I don’t want the political scenario to affect the game. I always had one aim and that was to promote women’s football,” Raheela said. It is worth mentioning that the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) do not endorse Ashfaq as president of PFF and any activity under the body will have no approval from the global body.