Football in Pakistan

There is a long history of Association football in Pakistan and is one of the most popular sports in the country. It is played widely in schools, parks and at home. Football clubs have also gained popularity in the country alongside more popular club sports like cricket, field hockey and others.

Currently Pakistan has three national division leagues and many regional division leagues.

The National Football Championship (A-Division) is named as the Pakistan Premier League (PPL) while National Championship (B-Division) is known as the Pakistan Football Federation League (PFF league). There is also a national knock-out competition called the National Football Challenge Cup. Another league, the Geo Super Football League, created recently in 2007, runs during the off season of the PPL.

History

Early history

Pakistani football was linked to football leagues in British India before independence. On December 5 1947, after independence, the Pakistan Football Federation was created with Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's first leader, as the Patron-in-Chief.

Pakistan’s first National Football Championship was played between May 28 to June 5 in 1948 at Karachi. The winners were Sindh Red, beating their fellow provincial team Sindh Blue. It was a knock-out competition, which remained this way until it was replaced by a Football League in 2004.

Pakistan was once one of the top footballing sides of Asia, recording its biggest win against Thailand in 1960, winning 7-0. However the sport remained underdeveloped for decades due to mismanagement, lack of support and corruption. The PFF also didn't bother sending the team to World Cup qualifers until 1989. This saw Pakistan become one of the weakest sides in Asia.

2000s

FIFA hired Dutch-British coach Dave Burns as Head coach of the national side in 2000. However, due to the restrictions placed by the PFF, Burns was unable to do his job and subsequently left after only just over a year as coach. Under 21 coach John Layton took over for a period of time before going in 2002. Slovenian coach Joseph Herel became the new coach, but left after the 2003 SAFF Cup. Things changed in August 2003, with the support of FIFA under their ‘Goal Project’, and new management within the Pakistan Football Federation, Pakistan restructured the national football system. The National Football Championship was replaced in 2004 by the national football league, called the National Division A Football League. This contained the best 16 teams from around Pakistan, the first time Pakistan had a national league. A second division was also created, formally known as National League Division B Football League before being named the PFF National League. The two bottom teams from the A league would to be relegated to the PFF league, while the top 2 teams in the PFF league would be promoted in their place. During the transitional year the national knock-out competition, at the time known as the President PFF Cup, was put on hold.

WAPDA were the first national league winners, pushing the Pakistan Army in to second place.

Because of funding problems, relegation and promotion was an issue, as was the teams continued participation. This led to further changes in Pakistani football. The following year, after more reconstruction of the national game, the National Division A, was renamed the Pakistan Premier League, and the President PFF Cup was reintroduced as the National Football Challenge Cup. The Pakistan Premier League now became a 12 team league, with the PFF becoming a round-robin competition.

In the FIFA 2005 survey, Pakistan was shown to have 2,975,400 football players, the 19th highest in the world. Of those, 64,400 were registered players.

In late 2005, the PFF hired Bahrain coach Salman Sharida as national team coach and in a drive to select Pakistani players based aboard, Fulham defender Zeshan Rehman who played in the English Premier League was called up to the Pakistan squad. On 7 December, 2005 he made his debut for the Pakistani team, in doing so, he became the first Pakistani international footballer to play professional football in England, and the first to play top flight football in a major European league. Although the appointment of Sharida was successful, he and the PFF were to fall out, leaving Pakistan to rely on Pakistani coches yet again.

In 2007, the new Geo Super Football League was the first inter-city league, and the first professional football tornament, which was contested between the provincial and federal capitals of Pakistan. It was also the first time club level football matches were shown live on TV.

The AFC President's Cup 2007, the annual Asian wide football competition between domestic clubs sides, was staged in Lahore. The first time a high profile AFC tournament was held on Pakistani soil.

In the PPL, the league increased by 2 clubs to make the league a 14 team event and matches were now held at 1:00 pm or 3:00 pm respectively, and on a home and away basis, another first for Pakistan football.

Women's Football

In 2005, a National Championship was set up for women’s football clubs. In the first season, matches only lasted 60 minutes due to concerns of players' fitness but were later made the normal 90 minutes.

The Punjab Women's team won the first finals beating WAPDA 1-0, but the game became infamous over the 'flare-up' between both teams.

The football federation brought over German Monika Staab to train women footballers before the third National Championship. Their goal was to create a national team, and play competitive international football. The PFF had set up two fixtures against Afghanistan, but the Afghans pulled out due to injuries when they had come over to play in the National Championship.

Clubs and championships

Most of the top level clubs are run by businesses or government departments which fund a variety of other sports as well.

There are 720 football clubs in Pakistan. 14 clubs play in the PPL (Pakistan Premier League) and 5 play in the Geo Super Football League.

Championships

PIA are the most successful club, winning 9 championships. The current champions are the Pakistan Army, winners of the PPL league in the 2006/07 season.

The newly launched professional Geo Super Football League in collaboration between the PFF and GEO Super having its own city-based teams as well as televised matches is a fresh concept for club football in Pakistan. Although the status of this competition seems to be separate from the PPL.

Future

Pakistani football is still undergoing changes to its structure at domestic level, football has been gaining popularity throughout the 2000s-present with many amateur clubs appearing playing quality football. Football at school/college/university level has become very popular especially the annual Karachi United school tournament. Things are beginning to look more settled then they were before 2003, with the PFF plan for Pakistan's full participation in every FIFA/AFC organised tournament, has helped bring a level of maturity in Pakistani football, particularly in the national team.

Recent improved results in the final rounds of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification and the 2006 Asian Games have given Pakistan supporters a reason to be optimistic for further improvements down the road. There is some speculation and hope that the improved performance by the Pakistan national football team may make it feature into the main AFC qualifying rounds for 2010 FIFA World Cup as well as reaching the finals of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup via the two AFC Challenge Cup editions of 2008 and 2010.

Pakistan has also had much assistance from FIFA under their Goal Project, in which 'Football Houses' containing a training field, hostel, gymnasium and many other up-to-date facilities, have been built. The first was in Lahore, and others in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta are to follow. Pakistan is only the country in the world that has been allotted four Goal Projects.

With Pakistan's neighbours introducing professional football, the PFF claimed to be looking at ways to do likewise when they viewed it to be financially viable, with an aim to do this within the next few years.

Players

Famous players having played for the national team include Muhammad Essa, Abdul Ghafoor, Gohar Zaman, Haroon Yousaf, Sarfraz Rasool, Zesh Rehman, Tanveer Ahmed, Jaffar Khan and Abdul Khaliq Baloch.

ee also

*
*Pakistan national football team
*Pakistan Football Federation
*Football around the world

External links

* [http://www.pff.com.pk/ Pakistan Football Federation official site]
* [http://www.footballpakistan.com/ Football Pakistan]