Pakistan regains international football membership, FIFA extends deadline for fresh elections

Lahore: Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) lifted the ban on Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) and restored its international membership.

"The Bureau of the FIFA Council decided on June 29, 2022, to lift the suspension that was imposed on the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) in April 2021 due to undue third-party interference," FIFA said in its press release released on Thursday.

The country was suspended from the federation in April 2021 following the arguments surfaced over FIFA's 'normalization committee' allotted to ensure whether the rules were followed. Earlier in 2018, FIFA had refused to recognize Ashfaq Hussain Shah as the newly elected President of PFF leading to its suspension.

The committee can be suspended again if it fails to fulfill the mandates imposed by the normalization committee, FIFA said. FIFA has also extended the elected Normalisation committee's (NC) deadline to conduct fresh elections within PFF to 30 June 2023.

"I would like to congratulate the nation as FIFA has lifted the ban on Pakistan Football. I think it has become possible due to the tireless efforts of the Normalization Committee and the prayers of the Football family," said NC Chairman Haroon Malik in his video statement.