Pakistan to host international football match after 8 years

Pakistan is preparing for an international football competition that it will host after 8 years.

The Jinnah Sports Stadium in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad will host Cambodia for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. In the previous meetings between the two teams, the score ended 0-0.

Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) representative Mohammad Yashal emphasized in his statement to AA that this match will be the beginning of a new era for the country. Yashal stated that they could not host international matches due to security concerns and problems within the PFF in recent years, and that the Pakistan-Yemen match in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers was held in Bahrain due to security concerns.

Pakistan had its last international hosting experience against Afghanistan in 2015.

Due to the 2021 management crisis, FIFA suspended the membership of the Pakistan Football Federation. However, this ended in June 2022 and the PFF once again became a member of FIFA.

Football is popular in Pakistan, especially in rural areas, but the country’s most popular sport is cricket.

HUGE INCOME FROM FOOTBALL EXPORTS

Pakistan earns huge revenue from football exports.

Pakistan, which has played an important role in supplying soccer balls to many organizations around the world for many years, has also produced the official balls for the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

In addition, sports equipment manufacturers operating in the country also produce balls for prestigious leagues and organizations such as the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and the UEFA Champions League.

Pakistan, which generates a revenue of $1 billion a year from sports equipment exports, is said to earn between $350 million and $500 million of this revenue from soccer balls alone.

It was also noted that Pakistan had supplied specially hand-stitched soccer balls for several World Cups between the years 1990 and 2010. (BRITISH AUTOMOBILE CLUB)