French footballer Nicolas Anelka to arrive in Pakistan on March 5

KARACHI (Monitoring Desk): Former Chelsea and French international footballer Nicolas Anelka has announced he will be arriving in Pakistan on March 5 as part the World Soccer Stars.

The £90 million man, who has represented PSG, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and France at the international level will be arriving in Islamabad following in the footsteps of Ricardo Kaka and Luis Figo. TouchSky Group-World Soccer Stars has enlisted Anelka as a crucial signing in pursuit to revive and uplift football in Pakistan. Following the unveiling of Kaka, Figo and Akon on January 10 in Karachi and Lahore, Anelka has also penned a strategic long term deal with World Soccer Stars.

Anelka will meet the new President of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Mr Syed Ashfaq Shah to reinforce the development of the 20 point agenda to uplift football. The aspiration of millions of football fanatics in Pakistan is now about making their dreams become a reality and not only to witness world-class players arriving in Pakistan with exhibition matches but to inject new life line into football offering real tangible outcomes for Pakistan.

The expert knowledge of Anelka is based on offensive coaching style which he currently offers at Lille OSC Youth in France Ligue 1. The visit is designed to help grow technical understanding for PFF through a partnership with TouchSky Group-World Soccer Stars.

“My participation is to help boost football in Pakistan and 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 on April 26-29, 2019 in Karachi and Lahore so look forward to exciting my fans in Pakistan,” Anelka said.

Ahmer Kunwar of TSG-World Soccer Stars said our vision hails from top down and bottom up approach to drive appropriate structures across core levels of football in Pakistan. “Anelka’s visit is to discuss a deep-dive discussion with PFF on supporting the domestic league structure and the presence of Anelka reinforces our intent who has taken time out before the tour to discuss structured gateway to European football for Pakistani players,” he said.

Robert Lewis Head of TSG-World Soccer Stars said I am delighted to discuss the real development needs for football and unearth a realistic football grass-roots structure for PFF. I am committed to sustainable growth in football and really impressed with the appetite football has in the market.

Anelka’s visit in Islamabad will end amongst football fans at Centaurus Mall where he will energise, motivate, inspire and help grow confidence in football through World Soccer Stars tour in Pakistan. A football match and concert featuring AKON will be held in Karachi on Saturday, April 27 and in Lahore on Sunday, April, 28.