Will face Bangladesh, Maldives too in first international assignment after eight years
KARACHI
Pakistan slotted in a formidable Group A of the South Asian Football Federation (Saff) Championship, which will begin on September 6 in Kathmandu, Nepal, while the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalisation Committee’s (NC) team of coaches and consultants concluded the trials to build the team on Friday.
Pakistan’s women’s team will be participating in an international event after eight long years. They last played in November 2014, which was a SAFF Championship event too.
The PFF NC is rebuilding the team from scratch.
The trials took place in Lahore, Islamabad and finally in Karachi on July 29, where according to administrative officer Qibtia Jamshaid, around 70 girls showed up to display their talent at the recommendation of the national coaches from their clubs, while 30 girls turned up from Karachi.
“The trials are done for all three venues and around 70 girls showed up altogether,” Jamshaid told The Express Tribune. “Now the coaches will collect data from each of the trials to decide on the 35 players that will be in the national camp, the details of which will be announced in two to three days.”
The PFF NC coaching team already issued a provisional list of 61 players who stood out in the National Women’s Championship in 2021 and prior.
The trials were originally chalked out to begin on July 24 with Karachi, but they were postponed to a later date for the venue due to the torrential rains in the city.
This is the first tournament to be on the calendar of the PFF NC after its resumption from an almost 15-month suspension from FIFA.
However, to make the trials more inclusive and update on the existing pool of players the NC team of coaches and consultants conducted trials in case any of the players from provisional list are not able to join and also to give a fair chance to any deserving new entrants.
