A security guard standing outside the Pakistan Football Federation building that day it was slapped with a FIFA suspension, April 7, 2021. Photo: Arif Ali / AFP
Fans and observers of the game in Pakistan have remained distressed and dismayed by the battles within the PFF, which have left the national team and players wandering aimlessly with careers going to waste. The captain of the women's football team, Haajra Khan, told VICE World News, “The last four-five years have been disastrous for the players, many of whom have either switched sports or left football altogether.” She added, “Our dreams are done. I feel like [football] is over for me.”While there are somewhere between two to three rival camps jostling for the control of the PFF, and many self-serving administrators who can possibly be blamed, there is one man who has been at the heart of the PFF for almost two decades now, and one who remains the most important piece on the PFF chessboard - Faisal Saleh Hayat.A graduate from King’s College in London and comfortable hobnobbing with the global elite, he drew his wealth and political power from land and a spiritual title he was born into. Corruption and nepotism accusations have landed him in court multiple times. He first came to power in the PFF in 2003, despite no real connection to football at that point. His actual connection was with the new military dictatorship in power, who he jumped ship to after abandoning his own party. The elections that brought him into the PFF even saw accusations that Pakistan’s military spy agencies helped him win.“Control for the PFF is motivated by a desire to control the large sums of money associated with it, guaranteed funding in the millions of dollars each year.”
At the time, Pakistan was ranked 168th on the global charts. Over the next decade and change, its ranking continued to plummet. While Pakistan football continued to suffer, its main football administrator Faisal Saleh Hayat prospered. He has been a member and later head of the AFC Disciplinary Committee, head of the AFC Legal Committee, member of the AFC Executive Committee and a part of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and the FIFA Strategic Committee.Most notably, he struck close alliances with prominent Gulf leaders, such as AFC president Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, former AFC President Mohammad bin Hammam from Qatar, and Sheikh Ahmed Al Fahad Al Sabah of Kuwait, one of the most powerful men in the sport.Hayat has been a crucial ally for these royals, supporting their bids in the global game, most notably the controversial vote for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup. In return, the AFC has been a staunch ally for Hayat, as it paid thousands of dollars in legal fees on his behalf, provided over half a million dollars for a project that was never built, and controversially transferred funds into personal accounts of Hayat loyalists.But at some point, Hayat’s wheeling and dealing caught up with him, and his former allies began to fish for outright influence themselves.“Our dreams are done. I feel like [football] is over for me.”
Faisal Saleh Hayat at the AFC Player of the Year ceremony in Kuala Lumpur in 2013, when he was a AFC Executive Committee Member. Photo: Mohammad Rasfan / AFP
Speaking to VICE World News, Ashfaq Shah insisted that "Pakistan isn't unique in facing this (suspension) from FIFA, other countries have faced it too. But the big question that still needs to be asked is: Why did FIFA fail to hold elections for the PFF despite having 18 months to do so?” When asked to comment on Pakistan's plummeting ranking, he said, “You should ask those who have been in power in the PFF for decades now.” Faisal Saleh Hayat himself didn’t respond to multiple requests for an interview.None of the rival administrative camps have expressed any desire to come to a consensus. On top of that, inconsistent policies by FIFA and the allegations of bias from AFC has led many to lose hope in the ability of these regulatory bodies to offer any solutions.“Nothing can change in the long term until the government joins hands with FIFA and sweeps everything clean. At this point, there is so much chaos that it is impossible to fix things any other way.”
Pakistan is one of the worst-ranked football teams in the world, even though it provides most of the world's footballs. Photo: Asad Zaidi/Bloomberg via Getty Images