The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) fully utilised its finances for the promotion of the game, inviting a battalion of 11 Pakistani officials, five of them as ‘guests,’ for Congress meeting in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month.
According to a top Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) official, apart from three delegates – PFF secretary Col Ahmad Yar Lodhi (retd), executive committee members Saeed Khan (NWFP) and Salahuddin Dogar (Punjab) – AFC especially invited five more officials as guests.
Those who went as AFC guests were either PFF or provincial association officials. Among the so-called guests were Col Rana Shujaat Ali, Khadim Ali Shah, Ayaz Zahoor, Zahoor Ahmad and Capt Asif.
In addition to the delegates and guests, three referees were also invited as part of ‘elite future referee’ programme. Referee Ahmad went to receive 30-year service award, while Mohammad Ali and Shahid Rasheed went for elite future referee programme, said PFF secretary.
‘It was the AFC which had invited our officials. The number of officials was decided by the AFC, but we chose the officials for the tour. It is a tradition AFC and FIFA always invite officials as guests on different occasion,’ Col Ahmad Yar told Dawn.com from Lahore.
The PFF secretary said AFC paid for the travel and accommodation of the officials including the guests, but was at a loss when asked what role the ‘guests’ played at the Congress.
‘Nothing I guess, they just went on to see things on AFC’s invitation. That’s all I know and can tell you,’ said the secretary.
AFC kept mum when asked about the procedure of participation of delegates from member football federations. The AFC was asked how many officials from each federation can represent, who bears the expenses, and who determines the number of officials as ‘guests.’
Interestingly, PFF director operations Wg-Cdr Pervaiz Mir (retd) and director finance Nadia Naqvi also went to Kuala Lumpur to attend a FIFA seminar on football development.
However, FIFA confirmed only technical director and the secretary-general were invited for the seminar organised in the Malaysian capital. In this case, the trip by Pervaiz and Nadia was funded by FIFA.
‘The technical director and secretary-general of each member association were invited by FIFA for this seminar, and travel and accommodation was paid by FIFA as we do for such seminars all over the world,’ a FIFA spokesperson told Dawn.com from Zurich, Switzerland.
While Col Ahmad Yar said both Pervaiz and Nadia attended the seminar, the FIFA spokesperson didn’t elaborate as to why the director finance was allowed to attend the seminar.
Since the PFF was at liberty to pick and choose its favourites as delegates, guests, and referees for the Congress, AFC’s invitation seems nothing but a way to oblige member associations to buy a certain allegiance at the Congress.
Asian football’s most powerful but beleaguered man Mohammed bin Hammam had to fight a tough battle at the Congress to retain his position as FIFA’s executive committee member. The Qatari, who is also AFC president, barely managed a 23-21 victory over rival Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim of Bahrain with two ballots declared invalid as they were spoilt.
‘I know president Bin Hammam very well. We all supported him in the beginning but I think that vote of trust we gave him, I am very sorry to say, we have created a dictator. He is not for all but for himself. We think there is a line that has been drawn and this line has been crossed. His autocratic decisions have divided Asian football,’ AFP quoted Ebrahim as saying before the Congress.
The number of Pakistani officials invited by AFC on that crucial occasion for Hammam clearly shows how votes and sympathies are bought by the big wigs of the continental association.
Sources, however, say that PFF also uses pressure tactics, asking the AFC and FIFA to invite more officials than required.
Although sources said that national league had to be postponed as the officials were on a joytrip, Col Ahmad Yar claimed PFF had to move the event in June because of lack of sponsorship - Shazad Ali - Dawn Com
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