Visa issues surrounding Afghanistan’s football team being able to play in Pakistan have been sorted out, allowing the team to travel to Islamabad for Thursday’s AFC Asian Cup qualifier at the Jinnah Stadium, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Pakistan Football Federation president Mohsen Gilani said that its Afghanistan counterpart had failed to ensure the presence of its full travelling squad at the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul for biometric verification, as most of the players were not living in the country.
The Afghanistan Football Federation was quoted by the Afghan Voice Agency as stating that it had sent the initial list of team members to the Pakistan Embassy on September 18, but “despite repeated follow-ups and official contacts, visas have not been issued to the players and officials”.
Today, Minister Naqvi took to X to announce the issue had been sorted out.
“Issued now,” he said in response to journalist Faizan Lakhani’s post saying the minister has ordered to sort out the visa issue of the Afghanistan football team.
“Thank you for highlighting it,” Naqvi added.
Uncertainty surrounded the qualifier due to the latter failing to secure visas for its players earlier.
Reports from Afghanistan said that all of its national team players had gathered in Dubai on Tuesday evening, and they were awaiting visa clearance.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are pointless after losing their opening two matches in Group ‘E’ against Syria and Myanmar. The two sides have a double-header in this international window, with Afghanistan to host Pakistan in Al Ardiya, Kuwait, for the return game on October 14.
The winner of the group advances to the 2027 AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.
