Nicolas Anelka to visit Pakistan for World Soccer Stars event in April
Nicolas Anelka from France is all set to visit Pakistan once again, on 27 and 28 April for World Soccer Stars event which is set to be held in April.
France's former striker, Nicolas Anelka is all set to visit Pakistan yet again after nearly two years gap of his first. In this visit he will also see meet Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) officials as TouchSky Group (TSG) seeks to finalize the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the country’s football governing body for the development of the sport.
TouchSky (TSG) is organizing the World Soccer Stars event in Pakistan in April and is also responsible for bringing Anelka to Pakistan. Anelka joins Portuguese great Luis Figo and Brazilian legend Kaka in confirming that he will play exhibition matches as part of that event. Figo and Kaka visited Pakistan in January to officially kick-start the World Soccer Stars. event.
“Anelka will meet the new President of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Syed Ashfaq Shah in Islamabad, to reinforce the development of the 20 point agenda to uplift football,” the organizers said.
Pakistan football has been in turmoil since 2015 due to a dispute in the PFF. The Supreme Court ordered fresh elections of PFF in December that decided upon Ashfaq elected as the new President. Yet Ashfaq isn’t recognized by global football body FIFA which still holds Faisal Saleh Hayat as Pakistan’s football chief.
Ashfaq will be in the chair for the ExCo meeting but PFF’s acting secretary Sharafat Bukhari told Dawn on Friday that “discussions about closing the deal with TSG are not on the agenda”.
“It will only be discussed if the PFF President wants to, the PFF chief is thankful that a star player like Anelka has asked for a meeting and he will definitely meet him and TSG officials.”
Bukhari did not specify how close the PFF was to finalizing the deal with the PFF but added: “We are assessing how the deal with TSG will help us but if there is anything that will be beneficial to Pakistani football, we will surely go forward.”
PFF remains divided over signing the MoU in which the TSG has said it will create two leagues — one domestic and one international — and will hold full rights for both over a period of 15 years. It has also promised grassroots development programmes.
Anelka last came to Pakistan in July 2017 as part of the ‘Ronaldinho and Friends’ tour organised by Leisure Leagues in association with TSG. Then, he featured in exhibition matches played in Karachi and Lahore. He will now be seen in action on April 27 and 28.
Starting his career at Paris St. Germain, Anelka moved to Arsenal in 1997 and won the Premier League in his first season at the London club.
Having missed out on France’s 1998 World Cup-winning squad, he joined Real Madrid in 1999 and won the Champions League in his only season at the Spanish giants. His greatest international achievement came at Euro 2000 where he was part of the victorious France squad but his international career ended in disgrace after he was punished for being in a group of players that revolted against coach Raymond Domenech during France’s disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign. In a trophy-laden career, the mercurial Nicolas Anelka also had spells at Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Juventus.
