Pakistan-based footballers urged FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to revive the country’s Premier League and second-tier league as the absence from the last 8 years has inflicted a huge financial damage on them. The players conveyed that they were surprised why FIFA and AFC hadn’t noticed the absence of PPL. One of the player’s stated, ‘Our basic demand from FIFA and AFC is to revive our domestic football events including the Premier League and second-tier league. The Premier League was our major income source and its absence has inflicted a huge financial damage on us. We are unable to look after our families especially in this age of high inflation. FIFA should help revive our Premier League and the second-tier league so that footballers could look after their families properly.’ The player further added: ‘In the Premier League season a mainstream footballer could easily earn around Rs2 million which could help them look after their families. Now as there is no domestic football we have been compelled to do odd jobs to earn our livelihood.’ The last PPL was held in 2018/19, and that too by two different federations. The FIFA-recognized Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) started and held the major part of the tournament, while the final stages were conducted by the parallel PFF which had been formed as a result of the court-ordered elections. The players were surprised why the FIFA-appointed Normalization Committee (NC) hadn’t held the tournament since 4 years. Ex-Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, revived departmental sports, but according to the players, the departments are not ready to revive their football teams because there has been no domestic activity for the last four-odd years.
Source: Pro Pakistani