PFF confirms Pakistan’s participation in SAFF Cup

Karachi: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Friday confirmed the participation of men’s national football team in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship scheduled for September this year in Bangladesh.

The PFF also announced the schedule of the multiple training camps for the regional championship which will be played from September 14 to 25.

According to PFF’s spokesman, the first training camp is set to be conducted from May 21 to June 15. The national side will then reunite from June 28 to July 20 which will be followed by another training camp from August 1 to 20. The squad will be back together again from August 28 till the end of the SAFF Cup 2021.

The venues for the training camps are, however, yet to be decided.

PFF Normalisation Committee chairman Haroon Malik said that the return of men’s national football team in action will be a momentous breakthrough for the PFF.

“Pakistan men's national team will be competing in the SAFF Cup this September and the FIFA Windows — for which we’ve approached all AFC [Asian Football Confederation] Member Associations,” he said. “PFF is focused on greater impact and investment for the betterment of the game.”

Meanwhile, the PFF has also confirmed that it is in contact with various AFC countries to arrange international friendlies for Pakistan’s men football team ahead of the tournament.

The PFF spokesman said that Pakistan will have the opportunity to play international friendlies during the FIFA Windows which will open from May 31 to June 15, August 30 to September 7, October 4 to 12 and November 8-16 this year.

“Pakistan Football Federation has approached various Asian countries and has invited them to play matches against Pakistan’s team,” he said.

Daniel Limones, Director Technical PFF, said that they are focused on preparing the team for top level competition.

“We want to get the most out of the players who participate in the SAFF Cup,” he said. “Hence, once we have carefully recruited the coaching staff that will interact with them, we will work with them for as long as is necessary to be able to put up a strong show in the competition.”

He added that the PFF will also announce the calendar for the Pakistan women’s national team and age-group teams of both men and women in the coming weeks. The domestic tournaments calendar will also be revealed in due course.

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