DG Pakistan Sports Board Refutes PFF’s Claims of Jinnah Stadium Unavailability

Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Director General Shoaib Khoso, refuted the claims of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Monday and posted a notification about the confirmation of lights at Jinnah Stadium. The Jinnah Stadium was going to host the FIFA World Cup Qualifier Round 2 match between Pakistan and Jordan, but PFF recently revealed that the match will be shifted to a neutral venue as the lights will not be installed within time to host the match.

The minimum requirement of the lights in Jinnah Stadium is around 1200 lux, which will be enough to meet the FIFA requirements as per the rules and regulations.

According to sources the PFF NC chairman, Haroon Malik returned to Pakistan last week and did not meet the delegation of the Pakistan Sports Board to discuss the matter of lights and seating arrangements in preparation for the FIFA World Cup Qualifier (Round 2) match Jordan match on March 21.

Earlier, today the Pakistan Football Federation announced that the Pakistan Football team will be looking to play in a neutral venue when their match takes place against Jordan in March.

Dear Football Community of Pakistan,

We would like to provide an important update regarding our upcoming FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Round 2 match against Jordan. pic.twitter.com/kWgAuXHWFb

— Pakistan Football Federation (@TheRealPFF) January 22, 2024

Three days, before the announcement, The PFF President posted on X, “At Jinnah Stadium Islamabad.”

In response to the notification by PSB PFF head of legal has denied receiving any kind of notification before Monday, January 22. It should be noted that the deadline for submitting the venue to FIFA and AFC was on January 21.

Just checked with Ali Akram, PFF head of legal, and he has denied receiving this letter, till 13:30pm on Monday. Of course, the 19th was the last working day, it would have taken time to deliver. I wonder if PSB had sent a copy of letter on email in reply to PFF's email of 15th? https://t.co/xAZ4VJhSkJ

— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) January 22, 2024

FIFA demands the confirmation of the venue before the cutoff deadline date, the renovation in the stadium can continue after the deadline date, which is in this case January 21, 2024.

It seems like both the parties, Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) are directing the blame toward each other for the failure to host the match against Jordan in Islamabad.

The chaos between the two parties is creating uncertainty and despite this only Pakistan Football is suffering.