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Mujahid sees no hope for ‘Vision 2022’ Back To Main

KARACHI: With the current planning and policies, Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) will not be able to realise its “Vision 2022”, a former PFF official said here on Wednesday.

“The PFF policies are defective and I am hundred percent sure that Pakistan will not be able to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. I fear that by then it will not be able to enroll itself even in the top ten or eight countries of Asia,” Col Mujahid Ullah Tareen, a former PFF secretary, told ‘The News’ in an interview. “The PFF needs to devise a strong and effective strategy in order to give football in the country a strong base.”

He also termed the Premier League defective and stressed its improvement. “Unless the Premier League is corrected, positive results cannot be produced. Premier League is the basic thing and it should be developed in order to create a competitive environment in football.”

He said the number of teams in the league should be reduced and the process should be thoroughly monitored by the authorities in order to minimise the flaws in the whole exercise. “The current league is a drama of walk-over, there are no incentives for the players, refereeing system is flawed, deals among the teams are routine exercise and on top of all this grounds remain in a poor condition. With these things better stuff cannot be produced. For better future Pakistan should make its league result-oriented,” said Mujahid, who also worked as PFF Director Technical.

He suggested that in order to attract crowds and media, matches of the league should be held at a single venue. He said that he also does not see anything special in the Serbian coach Zavisa. “I watched him supervising the team in the SAFF Cup in India last year, but I did not see in him any such thing which can enable him to improve Pakistan team.”

He agreed that the PFF should have its own ground in order to provide quality training to the players ahead of any international assignment. He said that senior players should be respected while he is also of the view that the country’s Under-16 team that won the SAFF Cup title last year is being wasted. He said that only technocrats can improve Pakistan’s football