The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Friday announced the squad of the Pakistan women’s football team for the one-match against Singapore.
A 20-member squad was announced which will be led by Maria Khan.
Squad
Goalkeepers; Nisha Ashraf, Rumaysa Khan.
Defenders: Mishal Bhatti, Kayla Siddiqi, Sophiya Qureshi, Nizalia Siddiqui, Sara Khan.
Midfielders: Maria Khan (c), Suha Hirani, Kayanat Bokhari, Rameen Fareed, Marvi Baig, Aliza Sabir.
Forwards: Sanober Abdul Sattar, Zahmena Malik, Zulfia Nazir, Aliya Sadiq, Anmool Hira, Naqiyah Ali, Isra Khan.
Team Officials: Adeel Rizki (Head Coach), Ahsanulla (Assistant Coach), Lyne Ismail (Assistant Coach) Haider Ali (Media Manager) Summaiya (Physio) and Eiman Ahmed (Team Manager).
It must be noted that camp participants Karima Mehdi, Noreen Baig, Seharzaman, Sahiba Sherdal, Fatima Naz and Mafia Parveen are not in the final squad.
Kayanat Bokhari, who played as a midfielder for DSVP’s first women’s team in the Netherlands, along with US-based Kayla Siddiqi — is likely to make her debut in the Green colours against Singapore.
Earlier today, Pakistan women's team were issued Singapore visas to travel to play friendly matches against the host team.
The PFF got visa confirmation this evening. The national team is now expected to travel to Singapore tomorrow.
The girls in green were scheduled to play two friendly matches on July 15 and 18. But due to a delay in the no-objection certificate (NOC), they will only be able to play a single match on July 18.
The PFF received the NoC on Thursday after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's special assistant — Shaza Fatima — intervened in the matter. The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had shown its inability to process the NOC for the country’s women's football team’s tour of Singapore because of a shortage of time.
"Prime Minister played an important role in getting NOC for our team," Shiza said.
It is worth mentioning that the Football Association of Singapore sent official confirmation of the tour to PFF on 26th June, and PFF wrote the letter for NOC on 27th, which was delivered to PSB soon after Eid Holidays.
Faizan Lakhani Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.