Muhammad Essa

Muhammad Essa Khan (Urdu, Pashto: ; born 20 November 1983) is a Pakistani football manager and former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is the current head coach of KRL FC in the Pakistan Premier League. Essa is one of the most well known faces in Pakistani football, due to his regular goal scoring at the international level.
Club career
Born in the city of Chaman in Pakistan's Balochistan province, he played in the Afghan Football Club Chaman youth team before signing for PTCL FC, with whom he won the old PFF President's Cup in 2003. In the inaugural Pakistan Premier League season in 2004, he returned to his home town club Afghan FC Chaman, with his goals helping them to survive relegation. The following season, he transferred to WAPDA, but could not help them retain their Pakistan Premier League title; finishing second to Pakistan Army.
In 2005, he was offered a playing contract from major Indian football team East Bengal Club after his stellar performance in the international friendly series against India, but it seemingly failed to materialise after the club decided to retain the striker Bhaichung Bhutia for the next season.
He moved to Khan Research Laboratories, and helped them finish third in the 2006–07 season. The same year, he played in the Geo Super Football League for Quetta Zorawar as captain. Although his team came second in the league round and lost in the semi-final in the knock-out round of the tournament, he was awarded the SFL 2007 Player of the Tournament trophy.
In 2009, he moved to K-Electric, where he served both as a player and assistant coach in the last years.
International career
He was discovered by then Pakistan youth team and under-23 manager John Layton back in early 1999, and found his way into the Pakistan national football team soon enough, receiving his first cap in 2001. In 2004, Essa was called up to the Pakistan U-23 squad for the 2004 South Asian games. He 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.
In 2006, he led the Pakistan under 23 side at the 2006 South Asian Games, winning another 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.
Essa scored his first senior international goal in a free-kick against India, in the first match of the 2005 Pakistan-India friendly series at the Ayub National Stadium in Quetta to tie the game 1–1 with minutes to go before the final whistle. He scored again in the 3–0 win against India at the Punjab Stadium in Lahore.
He retained his captaincy for the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualification campaign. Despite a 2–0 win against Chinese Taipei in the first match, Pakistan lost 7–1 to Sri Lanka, which made Pakistan's 9–2 demolition of Guam meaningless as they finished behind on points to Sri Lanka, thus failing to qualify for the main round. Because of injury, Essa had to miss the 2008 SAFF Championship.
He retired from the national team during the 2009 SAFF Championship, after a fallout with the international team manager György Kottán.
Managerial career
Essa served K-Electric both as a player and assistant coach while attaining the AFC B coaching license.
He was appointed as assistant coach of the Pakistan national team in 2018, lasting during the tenure of former PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat, who was ousted by FIFA in June 2019.
He returned to K-Electric as head coach until the team got disbanded in 2020. He joined KRL as the head coach in January 2023.
Personal life
On 13 August 2007, Essa was awarded the Salaam Pakistan Award alongside tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and female squash player Maria Toorpakai for their contributions to sport by the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf.
In 2009, he opened an academy at his home town in Chaman, called the Essa Khan Academy.
Career statistics
International
International goals
Honours
Pakistan Telecommunication
Pakistan National Football Challenge Cup: 2003
Khan Research Laboratories
Pakistan Premier League: 2009–10
National Challenge Cup: 2009
K-Electric
Pakistan Premier League: 2014–15
Pakistan U23
South Asian Games Gold: 2004, 2006
References
External links
1983 births
Living people
Pakistani men's footballers
Pakistan men's international footballers
Pashtun people
Sportspeople from Balochistan, Pakistan
WAPDA F.C. players
Afghan FC Chaman players
Khan Research Laboratories F.C. players
K-Electric F.C. players
Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games
Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games
Men's association football forwards
South Asian Games gold medalists for Pakistan
Asian Games competitors for Pakistan
South Asian Games medalists in football
People from Killa Abdullah District
Pakistani football managers