Pakistan works hard to keep SAFF Championship

Representatives of South Asian Football Federation have expressed satisfaction over the suitability of venues in Karachi, Pakistan, for holding the South Asian Championship. However the Pakistan government and Football Federation are taking no chances, the Pakistan Times reported.

"The SAFF Championship is the foremost soccer event for South Asian Nations and we will keep it in Pakistan at all costs”, the federal minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh said after Executive Committee and General Council meetings of Pakistan Football Federation at Northern Areas House.

“I had personally talked to Sindh chief minister Arbab Rahim about shabby look of Karachi’s Peoples Complex’s and CM did his best to change condition of the stadium”, said Faisal who is also the PFF president.

Faisal also reported that work on Football House in Lahore had been "65 percent" completed and its inauguration would be performed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter immediately after Eidul Fitr this year. He said Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf is taking keen interest to see the Mr Blatter "on Pakistan soil".