History
On December 5, 1947, after the independence from Great Britain, the Pakistan Football Federation was created. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's first leader, became the Patron-in-Chief, and in 1948, the PFF became affiliated with FIFA. It is also one of the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation when it was established in 1954.
It organised the first organized the First National Championship in 1948 at Karachi.
Previously, corrupt and inefficient management, poor support from the authorities to the players and to the game itself, poor media coverage and the status of Cricket as the most popular game in the country were some of the factors as to why football remained underdeveloped since independence. Also due to politics within the organisation, there was a time when FIFA had suspended Pakistan from all international football due to rival PFF factions setting up their own teams to take part in international and national competitions. Such things hindered any chance of football's progress over the last 2 decades.
However, in August 2003, the PFF was under new management, as Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat took over, and he has turned around the fortunes of Pakistani football. With the Assistance of FIFA, the PFF set up a national football league in 2004, which is now called the Pakistan Premier League. In 2005 a National Championship was set up for women’s football. In 2007, the inter-city Geo Super Football League was established, making it the first time that Pakistani club football was telecast live on national television via GEO Super. It also became Pakistan's first professional football tournament.
At both club and international football, Pakistan have seen results improve. Pakistan rise has attracted many Pakistani players throughout the world such as England based player Zesh Rehman. However more effort and sincerity by the officials is required to allow further progress of the sport in Pakistan. Current bureaucratic inefficiencies and lacklustre politics remain within the PFF machinery that have always hindered the true growth of the game in Pakistan at a faster rate.
Pakistan’s core national league has three divisions. The National Football Championship (A-Division) is named as the Pakistan Premier League (PPL) while National Championship (B-Division) is known as the Pakistan Football Federation League (PFF league) and the National Club Championship (C-Division) is the lowest division. Below this are regional leagues likes IFA in Islamabad. There is also a national knock-out competition called the National Football Challenge Cup although it appears to be used sparingly nowadays.
Read more about this topic: Pakistan Football Federation
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