Pakistan has landed in yet another controversy, this time off the football pitch, after Japanese authorities deported a group of 22 individuals who had entered the country posing as professional football players.
According to Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the men travelled from Sialkot airport under the guise of a football club but were found carrying forged documents. Japanese officials quickly identified the irregularities and sent the entire group back, raising suspicions of a human trafficking operation.
Investigators have named Malik Waqas as the alleged mastermind of the racket. Waqas reportedly registered a sham club called Golden Football Trial to give the operation a veneer of legitimacy. Authorities said he coached the men to act like athletes and charged each of them nearly four million rupees to facilitate the trip. During interrogation, Waqas admitted he had successfully smuggled another group to Japan using the same method earlier this year.
The case has drawn sharp criticism in Pakistan, already reeling from a bruising defeat in the Asia Cup and the much-publicised “handshake row” with India. The cricket board in Lahore had accused match referee Andy Pycroft of undermining sporting spirit by advising both teams not to shake hands before or after their clash in Dubai.
The football scandal has only deepened Pakistan’s sporting woes. While the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) continues to lodge protests with the International Cricket Council (ICC), the FIA has confirmed that a full-scale investigation into the football scam is underway. Authorities are also examining the use of counterfeit paperwork, including fake football federation registrations and forged government clearances, which enabled the group to travel undetected from Sialkot.