Pakistan Football Federation has reportedly cleared the dues of the Men’s National football team of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers including the matches of Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, and Tajikistan.
According to sources all the players who were part of the 23-man squad in the 4 qualifier matches have received their dues. However, the wages for the SAFF Championship are yet to be cleared and the situation of the previous dues before the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers still hangs in limbo.
Reportedly, every player in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers received $2k, which includes, training camp wages, match fees and non-match day fees of 4 FIFA Qualifier matches collectively.
This means that FIFA is releasing funds to the PFF for the Qualifier matches but otherwise, no money has been granted by FIFA to facilitate the men’s team, women’s team, and age group teams.
It is pertinent to point out that the wages of players who participated in AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers Under 23, SAFF Championship Under-16 and SAFF Championship U-19 are still pending and their dues have not been cleared.
Subsequently, the women’s team is also suffering as they have not received their wages since the Singapore Tour in July. Since then the Pakistan women’s football team played three matches against Saudi Arabia, Laos, and Malaysia in the 4 Nations Tournament.
This is a poignant reminder of why Pakistan needs a league desperately and why the local players in particular cannot survive on International tour match fees under the PFF NC as they funds have to be released by FIFA.
Pakistan Football Federation will need to find a way to extract funds from FIFA and it is time they give the fans and the media some sort of accountability about the money generated from the gate receipts of FIFA qualifiers in Jinnah Stadium.
