The head coach of the national hockey team is set to receive his salary after a long delay as Pakistan Hockey Federation acknowledges his service to the team even without being paid.
Siegfried Aikman will finally receive his unpaid salary, according to the PHF Secretary, Haider Hussain. Aikman has been working without pay for over eight months.
Hussain acknowledged the delay in payments and stated that it was due to an agreement with the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) to pay Aikman’s salary. The cheque for Aikman’s salary is ready and will be issued as soon as it is signed by the Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC), Ehsan-ur-Rehman Mazari.
Aikman was appointed as the Pakistan coach until 2026 in December 2021. He has previously coached the Japanese team, which won the Asian Games title in 2018.
Despite Pakistan’s brilliant history, including multiple Olympic gold medals and World Cup titles, the state of the sport in the country has been in shambles for several decades. Pakistan has not qualified for the last two Olympic Games and the 2023 World Cup, and also missed the 2014 World Cup for the first time in their history.
Hussain also spoke about Pakistan’s failure to qualify for the ongoing FIH World Cup in India. Pakistan did not qualify for the super four of the last year’s Asia Cup, which resulted in their inability to qualify for the World Cup.
It is a relief for the PHF that Aikman’s unpaid salary issue has been resolved, but the state of hockey in Pakistan remains a concern.
