ISLAMABAD: FIFA on Thursday suspended the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) “with immediate effect” after the recently elected PFF Congress rejected constitutional amendments proposed by world soccer’s governing body.

PFF has been mired in crisis and controversy since 2015 and this is the third time since 2017 that Pakistan has been suspended.

“The PFF has been suspended with immediate effect due to its failure to adopt a revision of the PFF Constitution that would ensure truly fair and democratic elections and thereby fulfil its obligations as mandated by FIFA as part of the ongoing normalization process of PFF,” FIFA said in a statement.

“The suspension will only be lifted subject to the PFF Congress approving the version of the PFF Constitution presented by FIFA and the AFC [Asian Football Confederation].”

In June 2022, FIFA lifted the suspension of PFF, which had been imposed due to undue third-party interference a year earlier. A group of officials led by Ashfaq Hussain Shah, which was elected by the Supreme Court in 2018 to run the PFF but was not recognized by FIFA, took over the headquarters in March 20121. They had seized control from FIFA’s normalization committee headed by Haroon Malik. The committee had not conducted elections for the body in the 18 months since it took charge.

FIFA suspended the PFF due to the “hostile takeover” but lifted the ban after confirmation the committee had regained full control of the PFF’s premises and was in a position to manage its finances.

Pakistan was also suspended by FIFA for third party interference in 2017.