# Pakistan national under-23 football team

The Pakistan U-23 national football team is a youth football team operated under the Pakistan Football Federation. The team represents Pakistan in international youth football competitions in the Summer Olympics, AFC U-22 Asian Cup, Asian Games and the South Asian Games (of which it has won the 2004 and 2006 editions), as well as any other under-23 and under-22 international football tournaments, such as the AFC U-23 Asian Cup.

## History
### South Asian games
#### 2004 South Asian Games

The under-23 side won the gold medal at the 2004 South Asian Games held across 3 venues in Pakistan from March 28 to April 6, 2004. The tournament was the first to introduce an under-23 tournament system for the football events.
Muhammad Essa ended the tournament as top scorer and was player of the tournament, and helped Pakistan win the gold medal. His goal in the semi final against Sri Lanka which ultimately ended in a 1-1 draw until the penalty shootout took Pakistan all the way to the final against India, where Abdul Aziz's goal gave Pakistan a 1–0 victory.

#### 2006 South Asian Games

In the 2006 South Asian Games held across in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 14 to 26 August 2006, Pakistan again won the gold medal.
After advancing from the group stages, Essa's strike against Nepal led Pakistan to the final against Sri Lanka, which ended in a victory for the Green Shirts thanks to a goal by Adeel Ahmed in the half time.

### Summer Olympic Games

Pakistan first participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics qualifiers, finishing last placed with Yemen, Qatar, UAE, and Iran within the group.
In 2007, Pakistan thrashed Singapore in both the home and away legs by 2-1 and 3-2, consecutively under the newly appointed head coach Muhammad Rashid, and won the preliminary round of 2008 Summer Olympics first time in the history of Olympics.

### Asian Games

The under-23 side participated in their first ever tournament during the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. They were put into a group with Kuwait, North Korea and Hong Kong.
The team subsequently felt short participating in the 2006, 2010, and 2014 editions.
FIFA restored membership of PFF on 13 March 2018. With Asian Games approaching in August, the team had very little time to prepare. PFF announced the signing of new Brazilian coach José Antonio Nogueira and started camps in Lahore. Then, the under 23 team along with 3 senior players flew to Indonesia in mid August to take part in Asian Games. On 14 August 2018, the team played its first group game against Vietnam, the then runner ups of 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, which resulted in a 3–0 loss. On 16 August 2018, the team faced a loss against Japan by a scoreline of 4–0. Pakistan defeated Nepal by 2–1 in their final group game which was the former's first win in Asian Games after 44 years. Pakistan expected to qualify for knockouts being 3rd in the group. However, the team fell short in terms of Goal Difference.

## Result and fixtures

For all previous match results of the national under-23 team, see the team's results page. The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Win  Draw  Loss

### 2023
## Current staff

    As of September 2023
| Position | Name |
| Head coach | Shahzad Anwar |
| Assistant coach | Walid Javaid |
| Goalkeeping coach | Chaudary Nouman Ibrahim |
| Media manager | Muhammad Shoaib |
| Physiotherapist | Zubair Abdullah |
| Doctor | Muhammad Azam |
| Masseur | Abdul Qayyum |
| Team manager | Osama Ahmad |

## Players
### Current squad

* The following players were called up for the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification.
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club |
| 1 | 1GK | Usman Ali | (2004-06-10) 10 June 2004 (age 20) | 1 | 0 | POPO FC |
| 20 | 1GK | Hassan Ali | (2003-02-23) 23 February 2003 (age 21) | 0 | 0 | Lyallpur |
| 22 | 1GK | Salman ul Haq | (2001-06-10) 10 June 2001 (age 23) | 2 | 0 | SA Gardens |
| 2 | 2DF | Mohib Ullah | (2005-05-23) 23 May 2005 (age 19) | 3 | 0 | Karachi United |
| 3 | 2DF | Haseeb Ahmed Khan | (2000-04-04) 4 April 2000 (age 24) | 3 | 0 | PAF |
| 4 | 2DF | Abdullah Iqbal | (2002-07-27) 27 July 2002 (age 22) | 1 | 0 | B.93 |
| 5 | 2DF | Mamoon Moosa Khan | (2000-11-28) 28 November 2000 (age 24) | 3 | 0 | PAF |
| 12 | 2DF | Muhammad Sohail | (2001-09-04) 4 September 2001 (age 23) | 1 | 0 | KRL |
| 13 | 2DF | Muhammad Sufyan | (2001-09-21) 21 September 2001 (age 23) | 2 | 0 | WAPDA |
| 14 | 2DF | Saeed Khan | | 1 | 0 | KPT F.C. |
| 15 | 2DF | Abdullah Shah (Captain) | (2001-02-06) 6 February 2001 (age 23) | 2 | 0 | Abu Muslim |
| 6 | 3MF | Mohammad Taha | (2005-05-01) 1 May 2005 (age 19) | 0 | 0 | POPO FC |
| 7 | 3MF | Zaid Umar | | 2 | 0 | KRL |
| 11 | 3MF | Harun Hamid | (2003-11-10) 10 November 2003 (age 21) | 3 | 1 | St Albans City |
| 19 | 3MF | Nizam Uddin | | 0 | 0 | Pakistan Army |
| 21 | 3MF | Alamgir Ghazi | (2001-05-09) 9 May 2001 (age 23) | 3 | 1 | WAPDA |
| 23 | 3MF | Mohammad Hayan Khattak | | 1 | 0 | POPO FC |
| 8 | 4FW | Shayak Dost | (2002-05-01) 1 May 2002 (age 22) | 3 | 0 | Abu Muslim |
| 9 | 4FW | Muhammad Waheed | (2002-10-15) 15 October 2002 (age 22) | 2 | 0 | KRL |
| 10 | 4FW | Waleed Khan | (2004-12-08) 8 December 2004 (age 20) | 2 | 0 | POPO FC |
| 16 | 4FW | Moin Ahmed | (2003-11-28) 28 November 2003 (age 21) | 3 | 0 | KRL |
| 17 | 4FW | Fareed Ullah | (2001-01-01) 1 January 2001 (age 23) | 3 | 0 | Muslim FC |
| 18 | 4FW | Hamza Ahmed | | 3 | 0 | Youngstar FC |

### Past squads
#### Asian Games

* 2002 Asian Games
* 2006 Asian Games
* 2010 Asian Games
* 2014 Asian Games
* 2018 Asian Games

#### South Asian Games

* 2004 South Asian Games

## Competitive record
### AFC U-23 Championship

AFC U-23 Championship was initially set to be held as AFC U-22 Championships in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2012, but the finals tournament was postponed to be played in January 2014.
| AFC U-23 Championship record | AFC U-23 Championship record | AFC U-23 Championship record | AFC U-23 Championship record | AFC U-23 Championship record | AFC U-23 Championship record | AFC U-23 Championship record | AFC U-23 Championship record | AFC U-23 Championship record | | AFC U-23 qualification record | AFC U-23 qualification record | AFC U-23 qualification record | AFC U-23 qualification record | AFC U-23 qualification record | AFC U-23 qualification record |
| Year | Result | Position | Pld | W | T | L | GF | GA | | Pld | W | T | L | GF | GA |
| 2014 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| 2016 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 2018 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 2020 | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | Withdrawn |
| 2022 | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended | Suspended |
| 2024 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 2026 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined |
| Totals | 0/7 | 0 Titles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 27 |

### Olympic record

Summer Olympic Games record :
| Year | Result | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| 1992 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1996 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2000 | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter |
| 2004 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2008 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2012 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2016 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2020 | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined |
| 2024 | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined |
| 2028 | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined | to be determined |
| Total | | 0 / 7 | | | | | | |

### Asian Games

Asian Games record :
| Year | Result | Position | Pld | W | T | L | GF | GA |
| Senior National Team |||||||||
| 1951 – 1998 | See Pakistan national football team | See Pakistan national football team | See Pakistan national football team | See Pakistan national football team | See Pakistan national football team | See Pakistan national football team | See Pakistan national football team | See Pakistan national football team |
| Under-23 National Team |||||||||
| 2002 | Round 1 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
| 2006 | Round 1 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 2010 | Group stage | 22 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| 2014 | Group stage | 24 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2018 | Group stage | 17 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 2022 | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter |
| Total | 5/6 | - | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 31 |

### South Asian Games

South Asian Games record :
| Year | Result | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA |
| 2004 | Champions | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 2006 | Champions | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 4 |
| 2010 | Group stage | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 2016 | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter |
| 2019 | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter |
| Total | 3/5 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 20 | 7 |

## Honours

* South Asian Games
** Champions (2): 2004, 2006