Pakistan could reach elite football level in ‘8 to 12 years,’ says FIFA schools chief

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan could realistically improve its footballing standard to compete at the highest level within 8 to 12 years if it sustains its current momentum, FIFA's Senior Football for Schools Manager Antonio Sanchez has said.

Sanchez made the remarks to Pakistan TV Digital's South Speaks with Saqib, days after FIFA and the Pakistan Football Federation jointly launched the Football for Schools program in Islamabad, training more than 55 master trainers with a target of reaching 3,000 schools within a year.

The program is part of a wider effort to expand football at the grassroots level in Pakistan, with FIFA and the PFF seeking to introduce the sport to millions of children through schools and build a longer-term pathway for player development.

"If we continue working as a Pakistan Football Federation, together with the government, doing as we are doing now, and the progress we have seen in the last year and a half, why not dream that in the next 8 to 12 years Pakistan can really improve their performance at the highest level," Sanchez said.

Asked how soon Pakistan could reach football's biggest stage, Sanchez said the question is one he hears constantly across FIFA's global membership.

"We do have 211 member associations in FIFA, and this question comes in more than 100 of them. When is our country going to reach the World Cup," he said.

He said progress has to be measured in generational terms rather than immediate results.

"We are now planting the seeds for children who are 8, 10, 12, 14 years old today, for them in the future to potentially develop as future players of the Pakistan national team," Sanchez said.

He pointed to the scale of the schools program, already running in more than 150 countries and now expanding rapidly in Pakistan, as the foundation for any long-term improvement.

The Football for Schools initiative in Pakistan aims to take football into 3,000 schools, with trained educators introducing both football and life skills to children. FIFA is also supporting the program with 162,000 footballs for participating schools.

Sanchez said infrastructure remains a genuine constraint in many Pakistani schools, but argued that a full-size pitch is not required to deliver football sessions, and that gradual investment alongside the program itself would help close that gap over time.