Malik Riaz Hai Naveed

Personal life

Malik Riaz was born in Neuss as son of a German mother and a Pakistani father, relating to Rurala Road. After finishing school he started and completed a training with the local city government and became Officer in 2009. After the course Malik Riaz decided to study Political Science. He finished is bachelor's degree in 2012 from the Technische Universität Darmstadt and his master's degree from Ruhr-Universität Bochum. His focus during the studies was on the political system in Pakistan and Germany and on the integration of foreigners into society with football.

Activity for Pakistani football

Growing up in a country where football was THE sport to follow, and given Germany’s international success both as national team and in club football, Malik too loved football. However at a young age he noticed the indifference football faced in Pakistan despite the fact that all the football makers and manufacturers in the world rely on sporting goods industry in Sialkot. For such a large population and history of sporting triumphs in cricket and field hockey, football’s lack of coverage was a problem. Malik Riaz decided to launch perhaps Pakistan’s first football fansite using the old GeoCities webpage system back in 2001. As his passion for the game grew, so did his passion for Pakistan. The PFF was stunned to know a young Pakistani boy from Germany was interested in the Pakistani football scene. Amid reluctance shown from PFF officials, many players, referees, employees, coaches and journalists supported Malik’s enthusiasm and contributed all sorts of content from their archives to add to his webpage.

Malik Riaz, saw the Pakistan National Football Team, back in 2001 started reporting and covering various results of the National Team after reading them online, before eventually deciding to set up a website dedicated to Pakistani football. Formed in its existing form in 2003, FPDC is a non-profit volunteer organisation of Pakistanis all around the world striving solely for the Progress, Promotion, and Prosperity of Football in Pakistan. FPDC started off as the first independent internet media and commentary source for football in Pakistan, before gradually becoming an independent football forum and fans union for Pakistanis interested in the local football scene – which it still remains to this day.

As part of that commitment, Malik began searching for Pakistani talent abroad and his efforts paid off after he convinced Leicester City’s youth player Usman Gondal to play for Pakistan in the 2005 Indo-Pak series at home. After Usman Gondal Zesh Rehman joined the Pakistan National Team after the initiative of Malik Riaz and Rehman made his international debut for Pakistan in a 1–0 win over Sri Lanka in the 2005 South Asian Football Federation Championship on 7 December 2005 at the Peoples Football Stadium in Karachi.

Malik Riaz was also the man behind the introduction of the first foreign football player for the Pakistani Football League. In 2008 Akeem Abbas was hired by Wohaib Club after the initiative of Malik Riaz.

PMC Club Athletico Faisalabad

The FPDC staff and forum members had the idea of owning and operating their own football team in Pakistan. This was based on the takeover of English Football Conference side Ebbsfleet United F.C. by the fan website MyFootballClub back in Feb 2008. Eventually, many FPDC members joined forces in June 2008 to make a successful 50% takeover of Punjab Medical College FC team from Faisalabad, which plays in the Pakistan Premier League and had survived relegation by 1 point in the 2007-08 PPL season. The group founded a company called Zenith Sports and Malik Riaz was elected CEO. The team was renamed PMC Club Athletico Faisalabad, and ushered in a new era of growth, professionalism, and a will to succeed in Pakistani football. Malik Riaz was Team Manager of the football club in the 2008 season. The group eventually left PMC 3 years later.

Referee

Malik Riaz started a referee course in 2004 in his home town Neuss. Since then he is a regular referee in Germanys amateur divisions up to the 5th Division. He even used his training and put them to good use when on another visit to Pakistan, he offered his services as a referee or linesman in a domestic football competition. This was readily accepted by the referees who Malik has grown close with over the years, and he impressed both players and match officials when he took the role as linesman in matches of the PFF League.

Other activities

Malik Riaz was volunteer at the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. And in 2007 he was nominated as assistant team manager of the Pakistan Ball Hockey Federation. The team participated in the World Cup in Germany. In 2014 he founded a company to consult football coaches.