‘A dagger to the heart’: can Pakistan recover from latest Fifa ban?

After a third suspension in eight years, nascent progress has stalled and there are few reasons for optimism

Last June, Michael Owen and Emile Heskey revived their once-feared partnership to travel to Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and spearhead promotion of the Pakistan Football League, a new franchise-based tournament that was due to start in November and come to a head around now. “Pakistan is a nation with a real passion for the game, and while many will say that cricket is the country’s main sport, the fact that there are 3.4 million registered footballers in Pakistan tells you just how popular the game is,” Owen said.

The reaction to the visit (which, according to reports, also included officials from European clubs as well as Michael Knighton of short-lived Manchester United ownership fame) was mixed. Some football-starved fans in this nation of 240 million were excited at the prospect of professional football and big names. Others felt that the country actually needed a proper national league and an organised pyramid before thinking about add-ons. The kick-off never came, but now there are bigger problems to deal with. Last week Fifa suspended Pakistan from international football, a third ban in eight years.