KARACHI: It is a yes! The Pakistan football team will be all but touring England to play two friendly matches against India and Bangladesh in June.

“The tour is very much on, only the little formalities remain,” Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) marketing consultant Sardar Naveed Haider Khan told Dawn on Tuesday.

Earlier, confusion arose when the organisers of the tri-series between the sub-continental countries, Indian event management company Celebrity Management Group (CMG) said in an e-mail to Dawn that they had received confirmation from the PFF for the tour despite the PFF in recent reports claiming that they hadn’t confirmed their participation.

The PFF had earlier said they were adopting a cautious approach regarding the proposed tour as a similar tour in 2011 had been cancelled at the very last moment.

Bhaswar Goswami, CMG’s executive director, said that he had been received a call from the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) regarding Pakistan’s participation in the series.

“I received a call from the BFF to find out whether Pakistan has at all confirmed their participation in the proposed London Series,” Goswami wrote in the e-mail, also sent to the PFF.

“Also, today I received another call from one of my prospective Sponsor from India enquiring about the same matter,” he added.

Referring to an acceptance of the invitation by the PFF, Goswami added: “I have received the official confirmation on the PFF letter-head through e-mail so I hereby request you to kindly clarify the matter immediately.”

The clarification came swiftly.

“The PFF has agreed on the tour and we’ve sent our consent,” Naveed Haider said. “It is in the process of being finalised.”

Regarding the confusion, Naveed said: “First of all, the CMG sent us an invitation and we told them that we will be available for the tour.

“Since we were dealing with a private organisation, rather than a federation [which happens in usual cases], we had to see it fell in the gambit of FIFA and AFC.

“We then sent the letters to the English Football Association (FA) and English Premier League side Fulham to obtain NOC’s from them as we will be training on their grounds and playing there.

“Now only the final formalities remain. We’ve asked them to send us a draft agreement which will be vetted by our lawyers and hopefully it will cover all those points we have discussed with the CMG and we’ll be going to England for the games.

“The matches against Bangladesh and India provide us with the ideal preparation for the upcoming SAFF Championship as they would be our possible opponents in the regional competition so I’m really thankful to Bhaskar and the CMG for giving us the opportunity.”

Bangladesh too are eyeing the friendlies against their regional rivals as good preparation for the SAFF Championships which will be held in Nepal from September 20.

Bangladesh, who will be under the supervision of newly-hired Dutch coach Lodewijk De Kruif, are also looking to arrange a few more friendly matches against top sides to enhance their training for the region’s biggest football event.

“We’re looking to play against Malaysia and Thailand and are also in talks with few associations of the Middle East for another four matches,” BFF vice-preisdent Kazi Nabil Ahmed told Bangladeshi media on Monday.

India, meanwhile, are also coached by a Dutchman in Wim Koevermans. They have been reaping the benefits of their partnership with the CMG who are looking to build an Indian team good enough to participate in the 2022 World Cup.

In the meantime, they are looking at the option of hosting the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in 2017 and world football’s governing body wants to host the tournament in India as part of its developmental plan in the country.

For now, they are hoping that the CMG also arranges two matches against other European teams which will help benefit their national team.

“India will hopefully be going to two other countries after the series with Pakistan and Bangladesh which will help them gather more experience,” Goswami said.

Naveed Haider, meanwhile, is eyeing the series as a chance to promote Pakistan’s football talent in England.

“It is a 100 per cent sponsored tour and we’re lucky to have the opportunity,” he said. “It will be telecast live and people will be able to see the talent of our local players.

“I have also arranged for some scouts from lower league English clubs to come and see out players in action. Maybe, if they like what they see, they might even sign them up.”

Who knows, maybe the stars of the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) like Kaleemullah and Mohammad Rasool achieve exactly that — a professional contract in England.