Former Chelsea, Real Madrid and France striker Nicolas Anelka will visit Islamabad on Tuesday to meet new president of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), Syed Ashfaq Shah, and to reinforce the development of a 20-point agenda to uplift football in Pakistan.
Anelka’s visit to the capital comes as part of the World Soccer Stars 2019 initiative of the TouchSky Group.
The group also brought legendary footballers Ricardo Kaka and Luis Figo to Pakistan in January, and plans on holding exhibition matches in Karachi and Lahore in April.
Anelka, who also visited Pakistan in 2017 to play two matches headlined by Ronaldinho, further adds: “Having embraced Islam, I have a special connection with Pakistan.
I have forged a special relationship with World Soccer Stars tour. I am confident of this tour being one of its kind. I look forward to exciting my fans in Pakistan on April 26 and 29 in Karachi and Lahore.”
Anelka’s visit is to discuss a deep-dive discussion with PFF on supporting the domestic league structure. The presence of Anelka reinforces our intent.
He has taken a time-out before the tour to discuss a structured gateway to European football for Pakistani players.”
Anelka’s visit of Islamabad will end at the Centauras Mall, where he will be unveiled to football fans so he could “energise, motivate, inspire and help grow their confidence in football”.
World Soccer Stars is a set of showcase football matches scheduled to be held in Karachi and Lahore on aforementioned dates.
The matches will also see American singer Akon do a live concert for the first time in Pakistan.
