KARACHI: Pakistan football team will visit India to participate in the South Asian Football Federation (SAF) Championship after receiving approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs.
The SAFF Cup is scheduled to be played in India from June 21 to July 4.
The Ministry of External Affairs gave the clearance on June 2 while the Ministry of Interior gave it on Thursday. After this development, Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination and Pakistan Sports Board will officially issue No Objection Certificate (NOC).
On the other hand, the team applied for a visa two days ago through the Indian embassy in Mauritius, where they are playing the four-nation cup.
Sources said that Pakistani team officials have provided all the documents to the Indian embassy, including the clearance from the Indian government, but it has demanded that they require written approval from the Pakistani mission in Mauritius for the visa. .
Officials who spoke to JEE News on condition of anonymity said that the clearance will be issued from the embassy after receiving the NOC.
If everything goes according to schedule, the Pakistan football team will leave Mauritius for India on June 18.
The four-nation cup in Mauritius has been a tournament to forget the football team. The team had already crashed out of the tournament a day earlier after losing their second match 1-0 to Kenya.
Pakistan will face Djibouti on June 17 in their final match of the tournament.
The current Pakistan team is dominated by diaspora players, some of whom have good credentials.
It will be a testing time for the foreign staff and it will be interesting to see how they fare for the country in upcoming assignments including the SAFF Cup in Bengaluru from June 21 to July 4.
