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Pakistan to participate in SAIF Football Championship in Bengaluru

Pakistan has confirmed participation in the South Asian Football Federation (SAF) Championship to be held in Bengaluru in June-July and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) does not see any problem in players from the neighboring country traveling to India. Comes The international tournament will also feature teams from Lebanon and Kuwait after the SAFF executive committee decided in March to field teams from outside the South Asian region to make the championship more competitive.

AIFF general secretary Shaji Prabhakaran told PTI, “We don’t see any problem in players from Pakistan coming to India to take part in the SAFF Championship.” Can there be any problem in issuing visa to Pakistani players? “I think the Indian bridge team recently participated in the regional tournament in Pakistan and we don’t see any apprehension in their (Pakistan) representation,” he said.

The eight-nation tournament will be held in Bengaluru from June 21 to July 4. Apart from hosts India, Lebanon, Kuwait, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives will participate in the tournament. Sri Lanka will not take part in the tournament as it has been suspended by world governing body FIFA. Afghanistan joined the Central Asian Football Federation a few years ago leaving SAFF. Pakistan has not participated in two of the 13 tournaments held since 1993.

The Pakistan Football Federation did not send its team for the 2015 tournament in India due to internal reasons. Apart from this, the country could not participate in the 2021 tournament as it was suspended by FIFA. This suspension was lifted last year. Prabhakaran said all the participating countries including Kuwait and Lebanon will send their best national teams. “Yes, all competing countries including Lebanon and Kuwait will send their top national teams,” he said. India has won the regional tournament a record eight times. Defending champions Maldives have won the title twice while Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have won the title once each. India is hosting the tournament for the fourth time. The draw of the tournament will take place here on Wednesday.

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