The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is the national governing body of association football in Pakistan. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of football and affiliated to the Asian Football Confederation. The federation was founded in 1947, it manages the men's, women's, futsal and beach soccer national teams.

History

Upon Pakistan's independence in 1947, both East and West wings of the country inherited the football infrastructure of the British Raj. The need for establishing a nationwide football association to govern the game properly was urgent, since India had inherited the erstwhile Calcutta-based Indian Football Association and the All-India Football Federation (AIFF).

Thus, on 5 December 1947 the Pakistan Football Federation was created. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's first Governor-General, became the patron-in-chief, and in 1948, the PFF became affiliated with FIFA. It was also one of the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation in 1954. PFF organized the first National Football Championship from 28 May to 5 June 1948 in Karachi, with Sindh Red beating Sindh Blue in the final.

However, the game could not develop as smoothly as it should have. Pakistan's participation in international competitions has not been regular. The standard achieved in the early 1950s could not be maintained because of lack of organization of the game.

Competitions

Men's Senior 
 Pakistan Premier League
 PFF League B Division
 PFF National Challenge Cup
 Pakistan Futsal League
 Geo Super Football League – defunct
 KASB Premier League – defunct

Women's senior 
 National Women Football Championship
 National Women Inter Club Football Championship

National teams

Men
 Pakistan national football team
 Pakistan national under-23 football team
 Pakistan national under-20 football team
 Pakistan national under-17 football team
 Pakistan national beach soccer team
 Pakistan national futsal team

Women
 Pakistan women's national football team
 Pakistan women's national under-20 football team
 Pakistan women's national under-17 football team

Affiliated federations

There are currently 7 provincial associations affiliated with the PFF

 Islamabad Football Association
 Punjab Football Association
 Sindh Football Association
 Balochistan Football Association
 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Football Association
 Azad Kashmir Football Association
 Gilgit-Baltistan Football Association

Board of directors
The following are on the board of the directors at the PFF.

Past office bearers

Presidents

Secretaries-General

Criticism
Over the past several years, the Pakistan Football Federation has been accused of several corruption scandals and incompetence in running the day-to-day footballing activities in Pakistan. Local media outlets have described the current situation of the PFF as a "horror show".

Faisal Saleh Hayat incompetence
In August 2003, the PFF became under new management, as the politician Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat took over, and turned around the fortunes of Pakistani football. He has been described as a "feudal lord of Pakistani football". During his controversial tenure, Pakistan's FIFA ranking dropped from 168 in 2003 to 201 in 2017. Despite his lackluster results, Hayat continues to hold on to his position as president. Hayat himself in also the middle of various corruption allegations involving PFF and a legal battle at Lahore High Court with a warring faction intent on seeing him removed from office. 

The top division of the Pakistan Premier League remained suspended because the crisis created due to his actions, along with the men's senior team, who remained suspended from any international competition since March 2015, and FIFA rankings of the senior team had slumped.

2015 crisis
Just before PPF elections in 2015, two groups were formed within the federation and there infighting in the federation due to which FIFA took notice and told the federation to solve the matters, being in contact with AFC. 

In June 2015, 18 of the 26 members of the PFF voted in favor of Faisal Saleh Hayat's dismissal for incompetence and embezzlement of PFF funds. Controversy began at the Punjab Football Association, when the Hayat-backed Sardar Naveed Haider Khan toppled incumbent Arshad Khan Lodhi. Several of Lodhi's voters were banned by Hayat's illegal disciplinary committee. With this, Zahir Ali Shah, a PFF vice-president, turned against Hayat and announced his intention to run for PFF presidency. Shortly after his announcement, allegations emerged from Shah claiming that Hayat had changed several clauses of the PFF constitution to suit himself in the presidential election. The PFF eventually split into two groups following an Extraordinary Congress meeting that suspended Hayat. With the election approaching, the two factions announced their own election venues. The Lahore High Court was forced to intervene in and ordered a stay on polling and appointed a temporary administrator until matters were resolved between the two factions.

On 30 June, the elections were declared null by LHC, attended by AFC observer, Sanjeevan Balasinggam. The PFF chairman Faisal Saleh Hayat said that the "Elections were approved by AFC, but the Asian governing body had no comment on the situation." The row intensified when the Hayat faction went on and held election anyway, disobeying the Lahore High Court stay order. FIFA then intervened and sent a fact-finding mission. They concluded that Hayat be given a mandate for two years, in which he would have to amend PFF statutes and form an independent disciplinary committee before holding elections again.

The Lahore High Court appointed administrator Asad Munir was given authority to manage football activity in Pakistan, while the two factions sorted out differences. In a shocking move, the Hayat faction swiftly withdrew the Pakistan team from the 2015 SAFF Cup, only causing more resentment from football fans and senior PFF members who were intent on seeing Hayat removed from office.

In October 2016, the FIFA executive committee indicated all is not well with the Faisal Saleh Hayat faction of the PFF. A FIFA spokesperson said "given the current situation, FIFA has been withholding development funding to PFF."

In February 2017, the Lahore High Court restored Faisal Saleh Hayat as president of the Pakistan Football Federation. The FIFA Executive Committee decided that the current PFF leadership – led by Faisal Saleh Hayat – would be given two years (until September 2017) to revise the PFF statutes and organise elections accordingly.

A normalization committee was made for the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) in 2019, whose task is to hold elections of the country's football governing body and bring it would bring an end to a four-year crisis that resulted in Pakistan suffering significantly in the game.

2021 crisis
On 27 March 2021, the PFF's office was attacked and people inside held hostage by its former president, Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah, and his group, and the ongoing women's championship was cancelled. Major clubs protested: Diya W.F.C. announced that "laws were laid down by FIFA, PFF NC and the AFC", Mohsin Gillani W.F.C. announced it pulled out and Karachi United condemned actions taken against the NC, stating to be "fully and respectfully supportive of following due process as per FIFA directives."

Suspensions
FIFA has given warnings and suspension for PFA on several occasions. FIFA had issued a warning to suspend Pakistan if the third party interference (i.e. involvement of Lahore High Court) is not ended as soon as possible.

2017 FIFA Suspension 
In July 2017, the FIFA threatened to suspend the PFF's membership if it kept refusing to hand football affairs to its president-elect Faisal Saleh Hayat. Former coach Nasir Ismail asked FIFA to hold fresh elections for the PFF's presidency.

On 10 October 2017, FIFA suspended PFF with immediate effect. FIFA stated on its website:

On 13 March 2018 FIFA lifted the suspension, and Pakistan had been given the opportunity to participate in the 2018 Asian Games and the 2018 SAFF competitions.

2021 FIFA Suspension 
On 7 April 2021, FIFA suspended the federation with immediate effect due to third-party interference, which constitutes a serious violation of the FIFA statutes. The suspension was lifted on 29 June 2022.

See also

 Football in Pakistan
 List of football clubs in Pakistan
 List of football stadiums in Pakistan
 Pakistan football league system

References

External links
Pakistan at AFC site
Pakistan at FIFA site
Dawn, A history of football in Pakistan — part I
Dawn, A history of football in Pakistan — part II

Federation
Sports governing bodies in Pakistan
1947 establishments in Pakistan
Pakistan
Sports organizations established in 1947
Football governing bodies in Pakistan