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Lahore beats Afghans in Pakistan women's final

Sports Sciences Club of Lahore won Pakistan's 3rd National Women’s Football Championship after beating Afghanistan 1-0 in the final at the Jinnah Stadium. Ace striker Ayesha Akram netted the winner in the 26th minute of the first half to help her team lift the coveted trophy. "The winners gave no chance whatsoever to all out attacks of Afghanistan in the second session and kept their slender lead intact till the end. Afghanistan’s main striker Hadesa missed an open chance in the second half when the goalkeeper of the winning team, Nabeela Raza, was alone in front of her," the Daily Times reported. Hidayat Ullah supervised the match while Ejaz Hussain, Yasmeen Zehra and Khalida Perveen performed duty on the touchline as his assistants.

Final positions: 1: Lahore’s Sports Sciences Club; 2: Afghanistan; 3: Karachi’s Diya Club; 4: Balochistan; 5: Islamabad; 6: Pakistan WAPDA;
7: Sindh; 8: Pak Punjab; 9: Young Rising Star Red; 10: Lahore Women’s Club; 11: Young Rising Star Blue; 12: Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Pilot FC; 13: Higher Education Commission; and 14: Mardan Club.

The visiting Afghanistan team will now play a two match friendly series against Pakistan on 26 and 27 August at the Punjab stadium, the first ever women's football event between the two countries. Bank Alfalah will be the sponsor of both games and entry to the stadium will be free.

Afghan women conclude first international friendly

The Afghanistan national women's football team has completed its first ever international match abroad competing in a club tournament in Pakistan. The squad of 20 female players and two female coaches faced neighboring Pakistan in a friendly on Saturday. They were beaten 2-0. Although there are now 500 registered women players across Afghanistan, the game has had to develop in a cautious way given the conservative society. "At the beginning we had lots of problems. Most families didn't want their daughters to play football. We kept being in contact with the parents to try to convince them there was nothing wrong with it," said Coach Abdul Saboor Walizadah.

Earlier, players told media of their passion for the game. "When I was a child I always wanted to be a good football player," the 18-year-old captain of the women's national football team, Shamila Khostani, told the BBC. "We don't care if we lose or win, but we try. But, unfortunately under the period of the Taleban I couldn't play football or any sport ... when the Taleban went I found the opportunity and started playing soccer. We wanted to show that girls can also play football like boys," she said. "Some people don't like girls playing soccer because they believe girls should not play soccer. But it is the wrong idea from these people. It's ok, good to see girls playing football," Hadisa Wali, told NDTV. "In Islam, we should wear the veil,but it is ok if we can wear cap, not veil. Cap is also good. It is perfect to wear cap because it cannot disturb while playing soccer," she said. Palwasha Daud played football growing up in Pakistan. "When I returned home to Afghanistan I played football during school sports classes. After that, when football teams were created, I wanted to register," she said.

Pakistan firm makes world's largest football

A leading football manufacturing firm in Sialkot, Pakistan, has unveiled the world’s largest handmade football, measuring 34.7 feet diameter and weighing 800 kg. The huge ball took 50 stitchers over two months to complete the required 22,000 stitches. Ahsan Naeem, Chief Executive of Vision Technologies, said the football had been manufactured in record time on the request of MPM Telephone Company of South Africa and will be displayed in South Africa as part of the preparations for the 2010 World Cup. "It will be dispatched to South Africa on a special chartered flight to ensure its safe landing," he told Pakistan Times.

Pakistan welcomes Afghan women to championship

The 15 local teams participating in the Pakistan Women’s Football Championship in Islamabad (16-24 August) are set to welcome the Afghanistan women's national team. “It will be historic because Afghan women competing in Pakistan will be great for the relationship of these two countries,” Pakistan Football Federation spokesman Akbar Wahidi told AFP. "The team’s involvement “will promote football on either side of the border,” he added. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are fledgling nations in women’s football. The Pakistani women’s only international exposure was in May 2006 when they featured in an event in Amman, Jordan.

Afghan women players follow a stricter dress code than their Pakistani counterparts. In addition to wearing long trousers like the Pakistani women, Afghan players also wear baseball caps covering their hair. Football is fast regaining its popularity in war-ravaged Afghanistan after suffering badly under the Taliban regime, Afghan coach Walizada said. “We have very good women footballers of international standard and we hope they will do very well in the future. Football has regained its popularity and it will go further up. The government is trying to break social taboos in sport, especially women’s sport, imposed by the former Taliban regime.”

Staab: Women's football is "trendy" in Pakistan

German football coach Monika Staab has commented on the healthy state of Pakistan women's football. “I have come to know that women football in Pakistan is at an early age and the game was kicked off only three years ago due to the personal interest of Pakistan Football Federation President, Faisal Saleh Hayat,” she told Pakistan Times. "The main thing is that the ladies football is trendy in Pakistan and there is a lot of activity going on to attract girls to take up football as a sport”, she added. “I noticed in first two phases that girls in this part of world have a love, commitment and eagerness for the game. It’s a healthy sign keeping in view the cultural barriers as a Muslim nation”, she said.

An example is the Lahore Sports Sciences Women’s Club whose President, Prof Dr Shahida Haider, announced a 26-player squad for the 3rd National Women’s Football Championship commencing 16 August at Islamabad’s Jinnah Stadium. The team includes Punjab University women’s sports wing teachers and students who have hired the services of Pakistan Olympic team’s head coach Muhammad Rasheed.

“It will be maiden appearance of our team in the event and we are thankful to Pakistan Football Federation President Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat for giving us a berth in country’s premier annual women’s football show. We are also lucky to have sport-loving lady Shahida Haider, wife of federal Minister for Sports and Culture Mian Shamim Haider, as our club’s president,” SSWC’s media manager Salma Shaukat, told Daily Times.

FIFA Muslim women's program working in Pakistan

Pakistani Punjab’s women football players will get some fine coaching tips from German coach Monika Staab who will hold a local five-day coaching clinic after successful clinics in Karachi and Quetta. Former FIFA referee Arif Siddiqui and Uzma Zaidi will act as the coordinators of the clinic which concludes on 10 August. Monika’s next assignment will be to train and pick talented women of Peshawar, FATA, Northern Areas, AJK and Islamabad from 11-15 August. She will also be among a 4-member selection committee that will pick thirty-five best women football players during the upcoming National Championship to be held at Islamabad’s Jinnaj Stadium from 16-24 August.

Monika said during the training camps the players were physically sound and had a lot of passion to play. She also pointed out that the short camps were not enough for them to learn what they needed to. “Pakistan women’s team will take years to make an impression at the world level,” she added. She said FIFA had taken the initiative to promote women’s football in the entire world and they had also chalked out a good strategy for the same efforts in Muslim countries. “FIFA had allowed Muslim women to play football according to their traditional values wearing scarf and full trouser pants instead of shorts,” she told the Daily Times.

Punjabi squad prepares for Pakistan women's cup

Pakistan's state-level Punjab Football Association has named 25 players for a training camp to select a strong team for the 3rd National Women’s Football Championship. The players will be accommodated at FIFA Football House until their departure to Islamabad on 15 August. The National Championship will be played from 16-24 August 2007 at Jinnah Stadium.
The players are Lahore's Saman Islam, Nazia Javed, Sumaira Yaqoob, Asma Khan, Madiha, Nazia, Sobia, Ambreen, Naeema Butt, Anna, Maryam Sheikh, Asma Ashraf, Safia Butt, Shan Javed, Rabia Illyas, Mehvish, Roshni Javed; Vehari's Shazia Javed, Saima Yunus, Rafia Perveen, Aqsa Mumtaz, Nabeela Yunus; Gojra's Gulshan, Humaira; and Nankana Sahib's Najma Shah.

Afghan women ready for first international friendly

The Afghanistan women's national football squad of 20 players and two female coaches will travel to Pakistan this month for a friendly. "This is the first time that Afghan women football players will go abroad for a match," coach Abdul Saboor Walizada told Reuters. Since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, Afghanistan has witnessed unprecedented personal freedoms. The Taliban banned women not only from sports, but also education and most work outside the home and forced them to wear the all-enveloping burqa when venturing outdoors.

Afghanistan's female football players wear tracksuits to cover their legs and some wear baseball caps covering their hair. Training sessions are held in Kabul's sports stadium, where the Taliban used to publicly execute murderers, amputate the limbs of thieves and lash adulterers. Since liberation, a women's sports body was established in 2004 and now sees growth in women's football, boxing, volleyball, basketball and taekwondo.

Eight British-Pakistani players to be announced

Pakistan Football Federation President Faisal Saleh Hayat said eight British-Pakistani players picked from the Rotherham FC trials in England are expected to link up with teams in the coming Pakistan Premier League being played in October. “No matter they are British citizens now, these players are eligible to line up for Pakistan football teams because of their family heritage,” the PFF chief told Pakistan Times.

“We want to boost the PPL with the presence of foreign players, and above all to improve our national squad. We are taking seriously the next year’s 11th South Asian Games where our U-23 team will aim zealously for hat-tricks of gold,” said Hayat. “Several talented players of Pakistan origin are living abroad and we are well prepared to utilise their skill for our coming assignments in the international football circuit,” he added.

He said some of them will be challenging for a spot in the Pakistan starting lineup, ahead of the 7th SAFF Championship (Sri Lanka/Maldives), 19th World Cup qualifiers and Second AFC Challenge Cup 2008 (Taiwan). Four youngsters could be in the national colors even sooner, when Pakistan takes on Arab nations Syria, Yemen, Oman, Qatar plus Central Asian Kyrgyzstan in the AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers (Group-A) from 17-28 October .

There are reportedly almost 750,000 Pakistani expatriates living in England but not one currently plays in the Premier League and just three are on the books of England’s lower league clubs. Prominent among them is Zesh Rahman who spent three seasons with Fulham FC before joining Queens Park Rangers last year. He wore Pakistani colours in December 2005’s 6th SAFF Championship despite qualifying for the England U-19 team.

Pakistan conducts its first player trials in England

The Pakistan Football Federation has concluded its first player trials in England. "This is broadening our base and opening doors to Pakistanis around the world who want to play football," Sardar Naveed Haider Khan, a PFF director, told AP. More than 130 players attended the weekend tryouts at English League 2 club Rotherham United. The eight selected by Rotherham coaches will be training at Pakistan's national football academy in Lahore by the end of next week. While they are British citizens, the players are eligible to line up for Pakistan because of their family heritage. Rotherham also used the occasion to spot talent for the struggling fourth-level club. "It's an untapped market," said Mick Priest, a former coach at Manchester United's academy who now heads Rotherham's youth department."The first British Asian superstar we get will rival the mainstream stars in the game. But he's going to have to be good enough," Priest said. "Football's an unforgiving world and you're not going to be picked because you sell a shirt."

There are almost 750,000 British Pakistanis. Not one plays in the English Premier League and just three are on the books of England's lower leagues clubs. Zesh Rahman, a 23-year-old centerback who spent three seasons with Premier League club Fulham before joining Championship side Queens Park Rangers last year, said some agents were biased. "Before an agent or scout has a look at a player, they are going into it with stereotypes — with the perception that religion is going to interfere with the football," said Rahman, a Muslim who now plays for Pakistan despite reaching England's U-19 team. Professional soccer is in its infancy in Pakistan, with a five-team Super League only having started in the last few weeks.The eight players picked from the Rotherham tryouts will link up with teams in the regular, non-professional Premier League in Pakistan. That league starts its third season next month and is made up of players from government departments.

Pakistan to trial connected British youth players

The Pakistan Football Federation will hold trials for selecting promising football players with links to Pakistan on 29-30 July at South Yorkshire, a metropolitan county of England. The trials, the first of their kind, are seen as an opportunity to identify talent and skill amongst young British residents of Pakistani origin who might qualify to play in Pakistan’s domestic football and to represent various Pakistani teams. The trials, under UK-based coaches, will be held over two days .The selection process will be directed by the coaches and selected players on Sunday will be asked to attend further trials on Monday,” said Majid Lavji, Founder and Director of Asia Europe Sports Group told Pakistan Times.

FIFA sends Monika Stab to assist Pakistan women

The world football body FIFA has sent a high-profile woman coach to help Pakistan women players to finetune their football skills ahead of next month's National Championship in Islamabad. Monika Stab, 44, who coached Frankfurt Football Club to 11 titles in Germany before becoming a FIFA coach, will hold coaching camps in several cities of Pakistan over the next six weeks. Stab, who played for Queen's Park Rangers and Southampton in England, said apart from providing tricks of the trade to the players, she would have an eye on the emerging talent. "My job is also to scout out players who can eventually make into Pakistan's women football team," she told PTI.

According to the Pakistan Football Federation the number of girls interested in playing football is increasing. The Federation has organised the National Championship for women twice since 2005, though players have had to adhere to a conservative code of conduct, which includes wearing baggy trousers and long sleeved shirts. Also unaccompanied male spectators have been prohibited from entering into the stadium.

AFC President's Cup now for 20-30 September

The Organising Committee for Asian Football Confederation Club Competitions, meeting today in Jakarta on the sidelines of AFC Asian Cup 2007 confirmed that Asia’s club tournament for emerging countries, the AFC President’s Cup, Pakistan 2007 has been rescheduled to take place during 20 -30 September in Lahore. The tournament, due to take place earlier this year, was postponed due to Pakistani authorities not issuing the visas on time.

Launch of new Pakistan Super Football League

Pakistan's Super Football League championship kicks-off at Peoples Stadium Lyari on Friday evening with Karachi Bazigar meeting Lahore Lajpal. The SFL will play 20 matches over 52-days in stadiums in Karachi, Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore and Quetta. Participating teams will meet twice and the final will be played on 9 September. The SFL marks a new stage in Pakistan Football Federation President Faisal Saleh Hayat's modernisation plan. He abolished the National Championship by replacing it with League system in 2004, followed by launching of first-ever National Women Championship and National Soccer Challenge Cup in 2005. In 2006 he launched the National C-Division Soccer League.

He has pledged to continue his drive to youth development, women's football and to professionalise the game in Pakistan. “We have achieved a lot in the last four years. It will be my endeavour to see that Pakistan football is one day recognised as the best, at least in Asia. We need to set the highest benchmark possible in terms of professionalism,” Faisal said, as quoted by the Pakistan Times.

Pakistan bans former Federation chief for 10 years

The Pakistan Football Federation has imposed a ten-year ban on former PFF Secretary General Mohammad Arshad Khan Lodhi for violating the national federation’s code of conduct and discipline. Lodhi has been barred from holding office of any provincial soccer association, national federation and taking part in any football activity of the country for a decade. The decision was taken on the recommendations of PFF disciplinary committee chairman Moin Rauf.

A PFF official told Muhammad Ali of the Daily Times that Lodhi, who is the president of the Punjab Football Association, had also been fined Rs 200,000. Lodhi’s colleagues Chaudhry Abdul Rasheed (PFF congress member) and Anees Ahmed Khan (Lahore District Football Association president) have also been banned for five years along with a fine of Rs 50,000 each.

The official said Lodhi and his ‘friends’ were tarnishing the image of the PFF in the national print and electronic media. “Lodhi has developed a mental state where he thinks he is the only one who is right and the PFF officials are at fault. This strange behaviour can only be attributed to his psychological depression,” the official said, adding that Lodhi had not only tarnished the image of Faisal but also tried to make him a controversial figure through his concocted and baseless allegations.

“This strict disciplinary action has given a clear message to all football lovers in Pakistan that the present management will continue following the promised path of fair play, merit and enforcement of discipline without any discrimination,” he concluded.

FIFA backs four Football Houses in Pakistan

The world football body FIFA will continue its support to Pakistan and more football houses will be built to promote the football activities at massive scale, FIFA's Goal Project Development Officer for Asia Vernon Manilal Fernando told APP. Manilal, who is also one of the Vice Presidents of Asian Football Confederation, said he was impressed to see a superb football house built in Lahore and hoped that the Karachi's consultants, contractors will also show their ability in constructing a fine Football House. "Karachi project (football house) will be comprised 60-bed hostel, a library, audio video centre, gymnasium, and a training field. Pakistan is the only the country in the world that has been allotted four Goal Projects because of its growth in football," he said.

According to Pakistan Football Federation's Faisal Saleh Hayat football houses will also be built in Peshawar and Quetta. "It is just beginning of a journey and if similar efforts are continued without any self interest no matter Pakistan will emerge as a big football force in Asia in coming years," he added.

AFC President's Cup to be played in September

The third AFC President's Cup football tournament is rescheduled to September 2007, Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, the President of the Pakistan Football Federation announced. The Asian Football Confederation's annual third-level club competition, which was scheduled to be held in Lahore, Pakistan, from 17-27 May, brings together the league champions of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Taiwan and Bhutan.

Nike resumes hand-made football prodn in Pakistan

Nike, the official supplier of footballs to the English Premier League, is to resume making hand-stitched leather balls in Pakistan, six months after it stopped production there amid child-labour concerns. The company has signed a new contract with Silver Star, a leather processor based in Sialkot, after a tender process that Nike says was designed to promote a broader modernisation of the sector centred around the city in northern Punjab. Nike’s decision in November to end production at Saga, its former supplier in Sialkot, followed what Alan Marks, a company spokesman, said was “primarily a fundamental breach of trust” in its management over failures to remedy problems with labour conditions.

Nike was the factory’s main client, taking around 80 per cent of its production, and many of the estimated 3,000 workers at the factory have subsequently lost their jobs. Saga was producing 6 million of the 40 million leather footalls produced in Pakistan annually. "Unlike the global clothing business, where contracts can be moved relatively rapidly between factories and companies, the quality and scale of the leather industry in Sialkot is globally unique, leaving Nike with a significant shortfall in its supply of hand-stitched balls," Jonathan Birchall explained in the Financial Times.

The new contract requires the new supplier to use only registered full-time employees paid hourly wages to work on its premises, rather than piece work. It also stipulates that its workers be able to form or join trade unions. However, the initial contract is for a fifth of the volume of balls originally produced for Nike by Saga, although Nike says it will buy more as Silver Star’s capacity develops.

AFC finally announces President's Cup postponed

The Asian Football Confederation today confirmed the postponement of the 2007 AFC President’s Cup, the continent's third-level club competition, which was scheduled to be held in Lahore, Pakistan, from 17-27 May. The league champions of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Taiwan and Bhutan take part in this competition.

The AFC stated the delay was "due to the failure of some teams and officials in obtaining Pakistani visas on time" and said "new dates and venue" will "be announced at a later date."

See also: 2007 AFC President's Cup in Pakistan postponed? (14 May)

National Indian football trophy returns to Kashmir

A major Indian football tournament is returning to the state of Kashmir after nearly three decades amid a decline in insurgency-related violence, Football Association officials told AFP. The Santosh Trophy, a popular national event, will be held in summer capital Srinagar, the urban hub of Kashmir’s Islamist insurgency. The tournament was last held in the scenic Himalayan state in 1978, almost a decade before rebels launched a deadly separatist revolt, often from neighbouring Pakistan territory.

The number of insurgency-related deaths has dropped from ten a day in 2001 to two in 2007, due to a peace process in place between India and Pakistan since 2004. Both countries hold sections of the state but each claim it in full. They have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

“Allah willing, the competition for Santosh Trophy will be held in Kashmir in July,” said Zamir Ahmad, head of Kashmir’s state Football Association. Indian national officials visiting the region to oversee preparations for the event said the competition would help the game in Kashmir. “Football is the main game here. I am sure if such a mega event is held here, people would get more involved in football,” said Subrotto Dutta, vice-president of the All India Football Association. “In the near future, I see a very rosy picture for football in Kashmir. We would do all that is needed to rejuvenate the game in Kashmir.”

Kashmiri footballers said they were looking forward to the event. “It will revive old memories and football in Kashmir,” said former captain Majeed Kakroo, one of many Kashmiris who played for India.