Karachi: The national football team for the Pakistani men was officially excluded from the Asian CUP 2027 qualifiers after the Pakistani Football Association (PF) was suspended by the World Football Authority.
In a statement on Monday, PFF confirmed its exclusion from the championship, saying: “The Pakistani Football Association (PFF) is regretted to inform the football brothers that the national team will not be able to participate in the last round of the AFCA 2027 qualifying.”
The Asian Football Association (AFC) had previously warned that if the FIFA’s suspension of PFF was not raised by March 4 – three weeks before the first qualifiers for Pakistan against Syria – the team would be considered clouds from the competition.
In a letter addressed to the PFF normalization committee, the Asian Federation confirmed the urgency of resolving the comment case.
“In order to get enough time to prepare for the next first match for AC27QFR on March 25, 2025 with all competition requirements … The national team for men in PFF will have withdrawn from the competition in the event that the suspension on PFF is not raised by Tuesday, 4 March 2025,” The message stated.
Pakistan was placed in the group E alongside Syria, Myanmar and Afghanistan, with its opening match on March 25.
FIFA, which was imposed on February 6, has stripped PFF of all membership rights, which prevented Pakistan’s teams and clubs from participating in international competitions.
In addition to the crisis, the Pakistani National Football Team withdrew from the Asian Women’s Cup qualifiers for 2026, scheduled to start in late June.
FIFA extends to PFF NC mandate
Separately, FIFA extended the mandate of the PFF normalization committee until July 31, 2025.
SAUD AZIM HASHIMI, a member of the current FIFA PFF normalization committee, was appointed as a new head of FIFA starting from February 16, 2025.
Saud Hashimi will take responsibility after the end of Harun Malik’s current period on February 15, 2025, while the other two members, Mohamed Shahid Niaz Khakhar and Harris will continue to work in the committee.