Pakistan hockey captain Ammad Butt has appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir over mismanagement by the Pakistan Hockey Federation during the Australia tour. He cited mental strain on players, and urgent need for government intervention ahead of World Cup qualifiers.
Pakistan’s hockey captain, Shakeel Ammad Butt, has made a strong appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir over the “serious mismanagement” faced by the team during their tour of Australia.
Speaking to the media, Butt said the players were left “mentally drained” and “helpless” due to poor arrangements by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and the team management in Australia during the FIH Hockey Pro League 2025-26.
“We cannot work with this management. They have made us mentally ill. How can we perform for Pakistan? When we qualified for the Pro Hockey League, I helped the team with the Pakistan Hockey Federation. It is a great achievement for Pakistan to qualify for the Pro Hockey League after 7 years. When we came back from Argentina, things started getting worse instead of getting better,” Butt said.
He described the tour of Australia as a nightmare. “When I talk about the tour of Australia, I will start with the flight and hoteling. The flight that took us to Sydney, took us more than 12-14 hours. We were roaming around like abandoned people. No one cared about our team. There was no hoteling. We were not given food on time,” he added.
Butt also admitted that he had lied in a video during the tour to avoid embarrassment for Pakistan. “The management told us that the news and videos had reached India. I made a video saying everything was fine, but the reality was completely different. Everything reported was true,” he said.
“I am talking about the team management. Tahir Zaman, Sheikh Usman, Nadeem Khan Lodhi, Dishan Ashraf and Aslam. I am not afraid of anything. They have separated the players and asked each player whether he is with the Pakistan Hockey Federation or Ammad Butt. I am ready to testify about this.”
BIG EMBARRASSMENT for Pakistan – Hockey captain Ammad Shakeel Butt admits “he lied on video” during the Australia tour, saying he was pressured by team management to claim everything was fine.
During the FIH Pro League in Sydney, Pakistan players had no hotel bookings, waited… pic.twitter.com/RvZTOzePBF
— Manish Pangotra🇮🇳 (@ManishPangotra5) February 19, 2026
Butt urges Pakistan Army Chief to intervene
Butt said Pakistan needs urgent intervention from the top and proper management. “The World Cup qualifying round is a very important round for the Pakistan Hockey Federation and the Pakistan players. I think that the government of Pakistan should take action on this as soon as possible. We have very little time. We cannot work with this management. My team is with me. It is a very important round. We have to qualify for the World Cup. I request the Prime Minister and the Army Chief to take notice of this as soon as possible.,” he said.
Following Butt’s statements, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an inquiry into the alleged mismanagement.
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