# Pakistan national under-17 football team

The Pakistan national under-17 football team is a youth football team operated under the Pakistan Football Federation. The team represents Pakistan in the AFC U-17 Asian Cup and the SAFF U-15/16/17 Championship, winning the latter's inaugural edition, and is yet to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

## History
### AFC U-17 Asian Cup

The AFC U-16 Championship is the top level tournament for under-16 football teams in Asia and began in 1985. Pakistan participated in the tournament for the first time in 1992, finishing fourth in their five-team group at Rajshahi Stadium in Bangladesh in May 1992. The clash between Pakistan and Maldives ended in a 1–1 draw. In the 24th minute midfielder Mohammad Ayub scored for Pakistan until Maldives fought back and their striker Ahmad Saleh levelled the game. India beat Pakistan 2–0 in the second match. The winners had a 1-0 lead in the first half. The Pakistanis played with 10 players in the last 31 minutes when the referee sent right back Adeel Sarfraz off in the 59th minute. Ajoy Singh scored first and the second goal came from a penalty in the 70th minute after Pakistan's defender Kashmir Naseer fouled India's advancing Joseph Johnson inside the box and the referee awarded a penalty to India. Prosunjit Paul converted the penalty. Host Bangladesh booted Pakistan out of the tournament defeating them by one goal to nil, the solitary goal, netted by right winger Jahangir five minutes before the final whistle. Pakistan lost to Nepal 0–1 in their last match. Nepal's stopper back Gambir Rai scored the lone goal in the ninth minute from a penalty.
Pakistan along with Yemen fielded eight and four overage players respectively at the 2002 AFC U-17 Championship after passing the qualifying round, and were fined and suspended for taking part in the next 2004 AFC U-17 Championship after the discovery.
In September 2011 for its AFC U-16 Championship qualification campaign, the team retained the same 22-player squad that had won the previous year's SAFF U-16 Championship. It finished fourth in its six-team group, securing wins against Maldives (4–0) and Afghanistan (3–1), but losing against Kuwait (0–2), United Arab Emirates (0–2), and Yemen (0–4).

### SAFF U-17 Championship

Pakistan participated in the inaugural SAFF U-16 Championship held in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2011 with Sajjad Mehmood as the head coach, Hassan Baloch as manager and Munir Aftab as the captain. It beat India 1–0 in its first match, before winning 6–0 versus Maldives to reach the semi-finals. Two late goals helped it beat Bangladesh, and thus qualify for the final, in which it beat India 2–1 to win the tournament. Mohammad Bilal was the tournament's top goalscorer with 4 goals, while striker Mansoor Khan was declared the tournament's best player. Overall, Pakistan scored 11 goals and conceded only one.
The under-16 team participated in the 2013 SAFF U-16 Championship held in Nepal, where it was eliminated in the group stage after finishing third in its group after 0–0 draws against both Afghanistan and Bhutan, and a 0–3 loss to Nepal. Sajjad Mehmood was the coach for these fixtures.
The team withdrew from the 2015 SAFF U-16 Championship due to conflicts among the government and the Pakistan Football Federation.
In October 2018, the under-15 team participated in the 2018 SAFF U-15 Championship held in Nepal. After victories against India, Bhutan and Nepal, until finishing runner-up in the final against Bangladesh, the team drew by 1–1 draw until finally losing in the penalty shootout. The team also participated in the 2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification in 2019.

### Other tournaments

In March 2012, the Pakistan national under-16 team then participated in the 2012 KPT Challenge Cup as "National Youth B". Drawn into a group with senior teams WAPDA and Pakistan Navy, the young team lost 0–3 against the former, and 0–2 against the latter. In May, it participated in the National Under-22 Football Championship, where it drew 0–0 against Baloch Nushki and 1–1 against Sindh, thus topping group B. In the semi-finals, the youth team lost 0–2 against Pakistan Army.
In July 2012, three under-16 players went to Abu Dhabi for a month-long training camp at the Manchester United Soccer Schools.

## Coaching staff

    As of September 2024
| Position | Name |
| Head coach | Sajjad Mehmood |
| Assistant coach | Hassan Baloch |
| Goalkeeping coach | Noman Ibrahim |

## Players
### U-16 last squad

* The 23-man squad was call-up for the 2024 SAFF U-17 Championship
| Pos. | Player | Club |
| 1GK | Ghulam Abbas | POPO FC |
| 1GK | Aadil Ali Khan | Mehran FC |
| 1GK | Kashif Ibrahim | |
| 2DF | Muhammad Husnain | Mehran FC |
| 2DF | Abdul Rehman | POPO FC |
| 2DF | Najeem Khan | POPO FC |
| 2DF | Sameer Ahmed | |
| 2DF | Ubaidullah Khan (Captain) | Muslim Hands FC |
| 2DF | Majid Ali | |
| 2DF | Muhammad Aabis Raza | POPO FC |
| 2DF | Umar Javed | POPO FC |
| 2DF | Sayyam Chaudhry | |
| 3MF | Abdul Samad | POPO FC |
| 3MF | Muhammad Faraz | POPO FC |
| 3MF | Haroon Rashed | POPO FC |
| 3MF | Muhammed Farhad | |
| 3MF | Khobaib Khan | POPO FC |
| 3MF | Muhammad Khan | Muslim Hands FC |
| 3MF | Shahab Ahmed | POPO FC |
| 3MF | Hikmatullah | |
| 4FW | Abdul Ghani | Karachi United |
| 4FW | Muhammad Talha Khan | Gladiators FC |
| 4FW | Subhan Karim | |
| 4FW | Sharaf Khan | Pak Afghan FC |

## Results and fixtures

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

### 2024
## Competition records
### FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup record :
| Host/Year | Result | Position | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA |
| 1985 to 2013 | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2015 to 2019 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 2023 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 2025 | 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 | 0/20 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |

### AFC U-17 Asian Cup

AFC U-17 Asian Cup record :
| Host/Year | Result | Position | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA |
| 1985 to 1990 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 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 |
| 1994 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 1996 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 1998 | 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 qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2002 | Group Stage | 10th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 2004 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 2006 to 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 |
| 2016 to 2023 | 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 | 1/18 | – | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 |

### SAFF U-16 Championship

SAFF U-15/16/17 Championship record :
| Hosts / Year | Result | Position | GP | W | D* | L | GS | GA |
| 2011 | Champions | 1/6 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| 2013 | Group Stage | 5/7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2015 | Withdrew | 0/6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | did not enter | 0/6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | Runners-up | 2/6 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 2 |
| 2019 | did not enter | 0/6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | did not enter | 0/6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Semi-Final | 3/6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| 2024 | Semi-Final | 3/7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 6 |
| Total | 5/9 | 1 Title | 18 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 39 | 15 |

## Honours

* SAFF U-17 Championship
** Champions: 2011
** Runners-up 2018