Will the World Cup Qualifier match be held in Pakistan?

A member of the FIFA normalization committee in Pakistan says that they are trying to organize a qualifier match of the Football World Cup in Pakistan, for which the federal and provincial governments have been contacted.

As Pakistan’s football stadiums do not meet FIFA standards, upgrading of the grounds in Pakistan will be mandatory to host the qualifier match with Cambodia in October.

Due to the ongoing conflict in the football federation in Pakistan for the past few years, the International Federation of Football (FIFA) has entrusted the responsibility of running the federation in Pakistan to the Normalization Committee.

Pakistan will have to play two qualifiers against Cambodia and will be in a position to enter the next stage if they win.

Pakistan is yet to win the first stage and has never joined the FIFA World Cup.

In case the grounds in Pakistan do not meet the standard, Pakistan will have to host Cambodia at a neutral venue, i.e. in another country, which will have to be borne by the Pakistan government.

Shahid Khokhar, a member of the FIFA Normalization Committee, while talking to Independent Urdu, said that ‘Pakistan has to play Cambodia in the first round to participate in the FIFA World Cup. In which there will be two matches, one our team will play in Cambodia on October 12. The second match will be hosted by Pakistan which will be played on October 17.

“Currently, none of the football grounds in Pakistan meet the global standards set by FIFA. This is because Pakistan has not hosted World Cup qualifiers for eight years.”

According to Shahid Khokhar, ‘Pakistan football team has never won the first round, this time if it succeeds, it will be a big win. However, after that, there will be a second stage, then after that, the next stages can be decided and they can join the tournament.

He said that the football stadiums of Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan can be ready for international competition. For the preparation of one of these grounds, we have requested the provincial and federal governments through the sports boards to prepare us a ground as per FIFA standards. If the government is willing to release the funds, we will have FIFA inspect our grounds. But in case the government is not willing, the government will arrange to host the match on October 17 with Cambodia in another country.’

Grounder quality and player preparation

According to Shahid Khokhar, ‘We have football grounds, if the government allocates funds, these grounds can be prepared. Therefore, we are sure that the government will show interest in this matter, but if it does not happen, then we will consider hosting in another country.

According to a member of the FIFA Normalization Committee: ‘Lahore and Islamabad already have national level football grounds, only laser leveling, soft grass and commentary boxes, scoreboards, etc. will have to be upgraded. If we assure FIFA to upgrade the stadium to hold matches here, then the work can be completed easily in a month.’

National football player Mohammad Wasim while talking to Independent Urdu said that ‘In Pakistan, players have to help themselves in every game to make a place in the team by playing under you. But there are not many clubs in football. The federation organizes football competitions according to its budget, but the facilities to play at the world level are not there, and the opportunities are not there for the players to sustain the game. How can one win in major competitions when there are no world class facilities or training.’

Shahid Khokhar was asked the question that if there is no world-class ground, can the players of our team win the World Cup?

He replied that ‘this is true of our players in football that world-class grounds are not available. But we train them very well and provide them with good level coaching which teaches them the basic techniques of the game. As for the grounds, it doesn’t matter that much. Our grounds are slightly better, when the players get a chance to play on better grounds, they play better than before.’