KARACHI: A ban on Pakistan by the football governing body would not prevent the sport from becoming popular in the South Asian nation, English football legend Michael Owen has said, as he hoped Pakistani officials would sort things out with FIFA.
Owen played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United, and Stoke City, and represented his country in three World Cups till his retirement in 2013.
He arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday to hunt new talent.
The former English striker said he believed football would continue its momentum in Pakistan despite last year’s FIFA suspension of the Pakistan Football Federation due to third-party interference.
“FIFA’s ban won’t prevent football being more popular and people play the game more, and generally our momentum will continue regardless,” Owen told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
“It would be nice if, obviously, Pakistan, the Football Association or the government and all the dignitaries could sort things out with FIFA that would be amazing.”
During his three-day visit, Owen broke the ground for the construction of Pakistan’s first international-standard football stadium in Karachi. The stadium is a joint initiative of Global Soccer Ventures (GSV) and the NED University of Engineering and Technology.
Speaking about the initiatives undertaken by GSV, he said it was essential for Pakistan to have a good structure and world-class facilities for young football players.
“I think most countries in the world love football like Pakistanis do. And I think that for far too long, there’s not been a good enough structure in place in Pakistan, certainly not many opportunities for people to have a career in football, like there are in other countries,” Owen said.
But he added that would take time: “It’s not going to happen overnight, there’s going to be a lot of patience required to get a good standard of football continuously for the foreseeable future.”
Despite being a cricketing nation, like England, football could find its due place in Pakistan, a nation of 220 million, mostly young.
“Of course, cricket is great. We all know that. But there are other sports in life,” the former striker said. “You have 220 million people that can play anything. I know there’s been great squash players, great hockey players down the year. So, football can coexist with cricket.”
The former English striker also met young players in Lyari, a town in Karachi often referred to as “mini-Brazil” and the country’s football center.
“This is a hotbed of talent for football,” he said. “It’s a very famous area here in Pakistan and it was great to go visit it today and to see it for myself.”
He added he found Pakistan to be a great country, despite being told it was a dangerous place to visit: “I wanted to come, I was excited about the project. I know Pakistani people are very hospitable. So, I had no hesitation about coming. I’m absolutely delighted that I did come and I want to come back again and again.”
He also enjoyed Pakistani cuisine, especially biryani.
“The food is great. I’ve sampled some of the food and I would like to come back and sample more,” he said. “Biryani, chicken biryani, I think. We sampled that for dinner last night. And we had it again for lunch today. So yeah, very nice. That’s spicy, but it’s very nice.”