LAHORE – PMC Club Athletico Faisalabad survived the embarrassment of relegation in the Pakistan Premier Football League. This is their fifth consecutive top division season in 2011. PMC escaped relegation by narrow margin as they won their last two games on Balochistan soil and survived for another PPL season.
“I would like to congratulate all my friends, colleagues, supporters and well-wishers in Pakistan and around the globe for this success. All of them have stood with Faisalabad-based outfit through good and bad times and have now seen PMC Athletico play well and establish themselves as leading club. Our survival in Premier League and our inclusion in the PFF Congress with voting rights means the future is bright for this club and Faisalabad, and for football all over Pakistan,” said Club’s President Rai Saifur Rehman Bhatti, a lawyer who represented Pakistan in the 27th Asian Youth U-19 Championship in 1992 at Municipal Jawahar Stadium, Kannur (India).
After getting A-Division status through PFF League in 2006 and finishing as runners-up behind PTV, PMC played their first two top leagues as Punjab Medical College club, finishing 11th and 7th in 2007 and 2008 respectively. They were 13th and 14th in later two competitions with their new name of PMC Club Athletico Faisalabad.
The 2010 event saw PMC collecting 21 points in their quota of 30 matches with five wins, six draws and a goal count of 22-54. Haroon Yousof was their leading scorer with eight goals, including that all-important last-ditch winner against Baloch FC. Meanwhile, Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)’s Secretary General Lt.
Col (retd) Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi said that it was last gasp effort that saved the club from drifting away from tier-I show. “Despite many of PMC’s talented players lured by WAPDA, PAF, NBP, PIA, Bhatti’s privately owned PMC Athletico still unearthed immense talent from Faisalabad District,” he added. The PMC team is lucky to have the services of former Pakistani skipper Haroon Yousaf who was captain of ABL when they dominated the domestic soccer from 1995 to 2002. “We renamed the club, a name heavily influenced by Spanish football early July 2009,” said Haroon. He praised the team for win against Baloch FC Nushki 2-1 and Afghan FC Chaman 1-0. PMC leapfrogged to 14th place on the table and went clear of the red line, leaving Karachi’s Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Young Blood FC to lower division as two bottom-placed teams.
