Pakistan hopes to kick off new era

Ask one of the 255 million people in Pakistan to name their favourite sport, and most will say cricket.

Not many will say football, and even fewer will say women’s football.

But that’s all about to change, according to new Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) president Syed Mohsin Gilani.

“We want to promote mass participation of girls in football,” he says.

With the PFF previously suspended by governing body Fifa, the country’s national women’s team had been quiet on the world stage, playing only three games in the past two years.

Now those hoping to drive the game forward in Pakistan have been looking further afield to find talented players to boost its profile, such as defender Layla Banaras.

The former Birmingham City player tells BBC Newsbeat that Pakistan’s football setup “isn’t the best at the moment”.

“But hopefully that’s going to change,” she says.

Layla made history when, aged 16, she became the first-ever South Asian woman to play for Birmingham City, something that she hopes can inspire others.

“You don’t really see many players in the WSL [Women’s Super League] from a South Asian heritage,” she says.

“I feel like I want to be the person that people can see and show others that you can play football.”

Layla is currently a free agent after leaving the Blues at the end of last season, and recently made her debut for the Pakistan women’s national team.

She played in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers, where the side finished as runners-up.

“Pakistan contacted me a couple years ago but I felt like it wasn’t the right time and I felt like this was the right time,” she says.

“It was an amazing experience and I’d do it all over again.”

She is half-Pakistani, so when it came to choosing between England or Pakistan she says “it wasn’t even a thought, I’m proud of where I’m from”.

“It wasn’t really a debate,” she says.

Joining the squad alongside her is 21-year-old Mariam Mahmood, a former West Bromwich player.

“When they called me up, I was really happy,” she says.

“To know they know about me from the other side of the world is crazy.”

Mariam didn’t have the same experience as Layla from her extended family when she decided to pursue football.

“They were just like: ‘Pakistani girls don’t play football, they don’t do sport and that it’s not a career path’.

“But, you can’t let culture hold you back, you have to follow your heart,” she says.

Layla and Mariam join four other diaspora players in the national side, and PFF present Syed Mohsin Gilani is happy to have them.

“Anybody who’s eligible for Pakistan should play for Pakistan, it’s doesn’t matter where you live or where you’re from,” he tells Newsbeat.

The battle now will be to focus on developing players at home.

“We want to have more women’s football clubs and we are setting a functioning women’s football department in the federation,” says president Gilani.

“We want to take it all over the country.”

The federation also plans to launch new competitions aimed at women and girls, he says.

Layla says the PFF will need to do a lot of work to raise awareness and get young girls into football.

“It needs to be in schools, it needs to be in the local communities and there needs to be access to it,” she says.

She also wants to see more girls from a South Asian Muslim background coming through “into the academies, into the systems and into Pakistan’s football team”.

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