Pakistan national football team

The Pakistan national football team (Urdu: پاکستان قومی فٹ بال ٹیم) represents Pakistan in men's international football in FIFA-authorized events and is controlled by the Pakistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Pakistan. Pakistan became a member of FIFA in 1948 and joined the Asian Football Confederation in 1950.
Pakistan's national team debuted in 1950 and has yet to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals. Pakistan has never qualified for any major tournament outside the South Asian region, although on regional level the team has won the 1952 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament, and has achieved gold at the South Asian Games in 1989 and 1991. Pakistan had a brief period of emergence in the 1950s and early 1960s, but as the global popularity of football surged, the sport’s standing in Pakistan deteriorated. The standard achieved in the early years could not be maintained because of lack of organization of the game and the administration’s lack of attention to football. Football has also struggled to gain popularity in Pakistan largely due to the heavy influence of cricket in South Asia.
Shortly after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) was created, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah became its first Patron-in-Chief. PFF received recognition from FIFA in early 1948.
Pakistan visited Iran and Iraq for its international debut in October 1950. Pakistan faced Iran in their first official international game in Tehran, losing 5–1 during the Shah of Iran's birthday celebrations. Reportedly the Pakistan national team played the match barefoot, which was the norm back in South Asia. Pakistan also engaged in unofficial friendly matches during the tour, defeating Tehran's Taj FC (now Esteghlal FC) with a 6–1 scoreline and drew 2–2 against a team from Isfahan. In Iraq, due to the Iraqi FA's inability to gather a full national team, Pakistan played an unofficial friendly against the club Haris al-Maliki resulting in a 1–1 draw.
Pakistan's next international outing came in the 1952 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament where the team played its first match against India after victories over Ceylon and Burma, which ended in a goalless draw and emerged as joint winners of the tournament after finishing with the same points in the table.
During the 1950s, Pakistan played internationally in the following Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament editions which were played in Burma in 1953, India in 1954, then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1955, and the Asian Games in Philippines in 1954 and in Japan in 1958. Masood Fakhri had most notably scored a hat-trick, and became the first player from Pakistan to do so as his national team thumped Singapore 6–2 in a group match at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila, Philippines.
The Pakistan Football Federation became one of the 13 founding members of the Asian Football Confederation on 8 May 1954. Initially scheduled to play against Israel in the inaugural 1956 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, the team withdrew along with Afghanistan due to reluctance to host the Israeli team. However, in 1959, Pakistan finally decided to participate in the 1960 Asian Cup qualifiers hosted by India in Kerala, where Pakistan faced Iran, India and Israel twice each in the qualifiers. Although Israel managed to qualify by topping the group, Pakistan achieved a memorable victory over Iran by 4–1 and secure a draw against Israel, finishing in third place in the group, ahead of hosts India but behind Iran.
Pakistan had participated in various friendly tournaments in the early 1960s, with the Merdeka Cup hosted in Malaysia after the country first participation in 1960. Pakistan recorded some famous victories including a 7–0 walloping of Thailand, and a 3–1 win over the Asian powerhouses Japan. Two years later in the 1962 Merdeka Tournament, Pakistan ended runner up after falling to Singapore by 1–2 in the final.
The era also saw one of the finest players to ever grace the field in Pakistan football history, such as Abdul Ghafoor, nicknamed the "Pakistani Pelé" and "Black Pearl of Pakistan", Moosa Ghazi, Abid Ghazi, Muhammad Umer Baloch, Turab Ali, Murad Bakhsh, Qadir Bakhsh, Maula Bakhsh, Ayub Dar, Ghulam Rabbani, Mohammad Amin, Ali Nawaz Baloch, among others.
During the China national team tour in Pakistan in 1963, the first test in Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) ended in a 0–0 tie. The second match in Peshawar ended in a 3–2 victory for Pakistan, with the third fixture in Lahore ending in another 1–1 draw. The final fourth match in Karachi ended in a 2–0 defeat for Pakistan. The 1964 Summer Olympics qualification the same year included a 4–1 loss in Iran and a 1–0 win in Pakistan. Pakistan visited China the next year for an unofficial test match ending in a 2–0 victory.
It was two years before Pakistan played another competitive fixture, when they played in the first 1965 RCD Cup and finished third. In the 1960s, the national team also hosted several teams from China, Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia and most notably Dallas Tornados for unofficial test matches. In 1967, Pakistan lost their Asian Cup qualifiers against Burma and Cambodia and drew their final match against India. They then hosted the second 1967 RCD Cup and finished third. In 1969, they travelled to Iran to take part in a friendly tournament, in which they had a 2–1 win against Iraq and a record 7–0 defeat by Iran. This was before another disappointment at the 1969 and 1970 RCD Cup editions.
Despite the game's growth in the 1960s, Pakistan did not actively participate in the Asian Games football tournaments held in 1962, 1966, and 1970 due to financial constraints. The World Cup qualifiers followed a similar pattern, with Pakistan missing crucial matches because of a lack of interest from the federation and insufficient government support.
As a result of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, East Pakistan became Bangladesh and the Pakistani team lost the right to call upon Bengali players from the Dhaka First Division League. The national team did not compete again until 1973, when the national team toured the far east, which included several test matches against local teams and a friendly against China ending in a 4–7 defeat.
In the early 1970s the national side participated at the 1974 RCD Cup and the 1974 Asian Games. The most notable result in this period included a 2–2 draw against Turkey at the former and a 5–1 win against Bahrain at the latter.
Later on, the national side participated at the Afghanistan Republic Day Festival Cup in 1976, and held the inaugural Quaid-e-Azam International Cup held in Karachi the same year.
After several years without competitive football activity, in the 1981 King's Cup, Pakistan secured a goalless draw against Indonesia. After a loss to Thailand, they gained a 3–2 victory against Malaysia and although they lost a close game against China, they were able to win 1–0 in their final game against Singapore.
Pakistan hosted the 1982 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup involving Iran, Bangladesh, Oman, Nepal and the youth team Pakistan Blues. The Green Shirts started off with a 2–0 win over Nepal. They then lost to Iran, but came back and beat Bangladesh 2–1. The last game against Oman ended nil-nil and Pakistan ended at the third position behind the Pakistan youth team. However, in 1984, the national team lost 4 out of 5 games in the 1984 AFC Asian Cup qualification, the only victory coming against North Yemen 4–1 with Sharafat Ali scoring a hat-trick.
The national team hosted another 1985 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup, this time inviting North Korea, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal. A goalless draw against the North Koreans boosted the side, and they beat Nepal 1–0. However, they lost in the final two games against Bangladesh and Indonesia. In the 1985 South Asian Games, Pakistan ended fourth after losing a penalty shoot out to Nepal.
After participating at the 1986 Fajr International Tournament, the team finished runner-ups at the 1986 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup involving China, Sri Lanka, Nepal and a South Korean XI. In the 1986 Asian Games, Pakistan lost all their games.
In 1987 after participating at the 1988 Summer Olympics Qualification, the side was more successful at the 1987 South Asian Games, winning the bronze medal match against Bangladesh 1–0. In 1988, after losing the 1988 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Pakistan began with their first ever participation for the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for Italy in January and February, ending up unsuccessful. The national team bounced back, when several months later they took Gold at the 1989 South Asian Games, beating Bangladesh 1–0 in the final, from a solitary goal by Haji Abdul Sattar in the dying minutes of the game.
Pakistan had another early exit in the 1990 Asian Games, losing all three games. In the 1991 South Asian Games however, Pakistan beat the Maldives in the final 2–0 to win their second Gold, from goals scored by Qazi Ashfaq and Mohammad Nauman Khan. In 1992, the team lost all matches at the 1992 AFC Asian Cup qualification and the 1992 Jordan International Tournament. After again ending unsuccessful at the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification and their return to the 1993 ECO Cup (formerly RCD Cup), the team took part in the first SAFF Cup took place in Lahore in 1993, and the national team finished fourth, but at the 1993 South Asian Games, they were unable to get past the group stage.
In 1995, Pakistan went out of the SAFF Cup group stage on goal difference. Between 1996 and 1997, the team lost all their Asian Cup and World Cup qualifying games. Pakistan came third in the 1997 SAFF Cup, thanks to a 1–0 victory over Sri Lanka in the third place playoff. The 1999 SAFF Cup saw Pakistan finish bottom of their group, and Pakistan also failed to get out of the group stage of the final 1999 South Asian Games to hold full internationals.
Pakistan were unable to win any of their 2000 Asian Cup qualifiers. The following year Pakistan achieved their first point in the 2002 World Cup qualification, thanks to a hat-trick by Gohar Zaman in a 3–3 draw against Sri Lanka, but all other matches ended in defeat.
In 2002, Pakistan played in an unsuccessful four match series against Sri Lanka. At the 2003 SAFF Cup, under the inspiration of the attacking midfielder Sarfraz Rasool, Pakistan stunned India, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in three victories as they reached the semi-finals only to fall short against Maldives by 1-0. Pakistan finished fourth, losing 2–1 in extra time to India in the third place playoff. Later in the year, Pakistan won their first Asian Cup qualifier with a 3–0 over Macao, but still were unable to qualify. They rounded off the year with defeats to Kyrgyzstan in the World Cup qualifiers.
2004 saw changes in Pakistan football, with a new administration in place by this time and a new national league up and running. A victory and a draw against India in a three match series, the final match ending 3–0 in favour to the Green Shirts, followed by the reach in the semi-finals of the 2005 SAFF Cup, losing against defending champion Bangladesh by 0–1 margin.
The Pakistan team lost their first two Asian Cup qualifiers in 2006, in between which they took part in the first 2006 AFC Challenge Cup. They failed to get past the group stage, but beat Kyrgyzstan 1–0. Back at the Asian Cup qualifiers, they lost their remaining fixtures. In the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in 2007, they fell to a heavy defeat by the Asian champions Iraq, losing 7–0 on aggregate across the two legs after drawing 0–0 in the second round. In 2008, Pakistan travelled to Nepal for two friendlies before taking on the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualification. Although they won against Chinese Taipei 2–1 in the first match, and beat Guam in a record-equalling 9–2 win in the final match, other results, including a 7–1 defeat to Sri Lanka, saw them again fail to reach the finals.
In the 2008 SAFF Championship, Pakistan failed to go beyond the group stages, losing to Maldives 3–0, India 2–1 and Nepal 4–1, which signalled the end of Akhtar Mohiuddin's tenure as head coach. After Mohiuddin's departure, George Kottan was hired and the veteran tactician took the team to the 2009 SAFF Championship. The side were defeated 1–0 by Sri Lanka, before drawing 0–0 with Bangladesh as Adnan Ahmed missed a late penalty to seal a win. Pakistan won against Bhutan 7–0 in their last game.
Kottan was soon sacked in February 2010, Pakistan had no senior games during the entire calendar year. For the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualification in 2011, coach Tariq Lutfi was called up once more and failed to deliver. Defeats such as the 3–0 against Turkmenistan and 3–1 against India meant that the side were already out of the qualifiers despite beating Chinese Taipei by 2–0. Later in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in July, Pakistan lost 3–0 to Bangladesh in Dhaka, before earning a 0–0 draw in Lahore a few days later. Pakistan did not qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, being eliminated by Bangladesh in the first round of the AFC qualifying section in 2011, losing 3–0 on aggregate.
That saw the end of Lutfi's reign, with Serbian coach Zaviša Milosavljević taking over in November 2011 right before the 2011 SAFF Championship. Despite having little time to influence the team, Zavisa managed to hold Bangladesh 0–0, Maldives 0–0 and Nepal 1–1 in the India-hosted SAFF Championship 2011. However, they were unable to progress into the semi-finals and returned home.
2012's sole game was witnessed in November against Singapore, who thrashed Pakistan 4–0 at home. Pakistan started 2013 well, winning two games against Nepal with identical 1–0 margins. A 1–1 draw with Maldives followed, but with congested fixtures Pakistan ended up losing the last game 3–0 in Male.
Pakistan then played the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification in Bishkek, losing out 1–0 to Tajikistan in injury-time. Pakistan also lost 1–0 against the Kyrgyzstan after scoring in the 1st minute, but comfortably beat Macau 2–0.
Pakistan played a friendly against Afghanistan in August, losing 3–0 without their foreign-based players. Coach Zaviša Milosavljević was controversially sacked and replaced by Bahrain's Mohammad Al-Shamlan, who acted as a coaching consultant to Shahzad Anwar in the 2013 SAFF Championship. The Shaheens lost their first game 1–0 to India after an own-goal from Samar Ishaq. Against hosts Nepal, Hassan Bashir scored an early goal, only to see 15-year-old Bimal Gharti Magar level things in injury-time. However, Pakistan beat Bangladesh 2–1 but failed to advance to the semi-finals. The team participated at the 2013 Philippine Peace Cup at the end of the year.
For Pakistan's campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, they were to face Yemen in Round 1 in the AFC qualifying section. In the first match, Pakistan lost 3–1. For the second match, Pakistan drew 0–0, eliminating Pakistan from the tournament on aggregate.
Pakistan was suspended from all football activities by FIFA on 10 October 2017, after the controversial tenure of the PFF president and politician Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, widely described as a "feudal lord of Pakistani football".
For three years since March 2015, the top division of the Pakistan Premier League remained suspended because of the crisis created due to his actions, along with the men's senior team, who remained suspended from any international competition, and FIFA rankings of the senior team had slumped from 168 in 2003 to the lowest 201 in 2017.
FIFA restored membership of PFF on 13 March 2018.
Pakistan went to Bangladesh to take part in 2018 SAFF Cup which started in September, 2018 which was their first FIFA recognized tournament after a span of 3 years. Pakistan played its first match of the event against Nepal which ended in a 2–1 win. Pakistan lost its next match to hosts Bangladesh by 1–0 after conceding a late goal. Green shirts played their final group game against Bhutan which ended in a 3–0 win and sealed their place in semis after 13 years. Pakistan faced arch rivals India in semi final and were ultimately knocked out by 3–1.
After the SAFF Cup, Pakistan negotiated with the Palestine Football Association for a friendly. It was initially reported that the match will be played in Lahore, Pakistan on 15 November 2018 but Palestine decided to host the event afterwards. Due to visa issues, Pakistan team couldn't fly to Palestine on the desired date. So, the match was played on 16 November in which Shaheens lost by 2–1.
Disappointment would soon strike again as Pakistan lost its chance to pass the 2022 FIFA qualification, losing against Cambodia twice in the first round and was eliminated. The preliminary camp for the matches were controversially organised by two different federations. Faisal Saleh Hayat-led Pakistan Football Federation, which was internationally recognised, and non-FIFA recognised Ashfaq Hussain Shah group, which formed a parallel PFF, coming into power by third-party interference through the PFF elections conducted by the Supreme Court.
Pakistan were once again suspended from all football activities by FIFA on 7 April 2021. The suspension was lifted on 29 June 2022.
Pakistan made their comeback by playing a friendly match against Nepal in November 2022, losing 0–1 in a late minute goal. They played a second friendly match against Maldives in March 2023 losing 0–1.
Pakistan subsequently took part in the 2023 Mauritius Four Nations Cup featuring Mauritius, Kenya, Djibouti and the 2023 SAFF Championship alongside India, Kuwait and Nepal in the group stages, losing all six matches and finishing last in their group in each competition.
On 27 July 2023, the draw for the first round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification took place in which Pakistan were drawn once again against Cambodia, followed by the appointment of the English coach Stephen Constantine. In the first leg in Phnom Penh, Pakistan contested in a goalless 0–0 draw. Pakistan won their second leg beating Cambodia 1–0 in Islamabad, due to a goal by Harun Hamid, recording their first-ever victory in World Cup qualifiers in their first fixture at home for eight years, and qualifying for the second round for the first time.
Following the victory in Islamabad, the Shaheens were drawn in a group with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Tajikistan. Being the 193rd ranked team, Pakistan were the lowest-ranked team in the qualifiers, and terminated the campaign losing all the games in the group.
Pakistan was suspended from all football activities again by FIFA on 6 February 2025 due to failing to adopt a version of the PFF constitution approved by FIFA and the AFC that would have guaranteed fair elections. The suspension was lifted on 2 March 2025 after the PFF agreed to adopt the FIFA and AFC approved constitution.
The Pakistan national team's home kit has always been a green shirt and white shorts. The colours are derived from the flag of Pakistan which is a green field with a white crescent moon and five-rayed star at its centre, and a vertical white stripe at the hoist side. The away shirt colour has changed several times. The national team has used white shirt with white shorts or white shirt with green shorts. Historically, white shirt with green shorts is the most often used colour combination.
For the first fifty years of their existence, Pakistan played their home matches at various multi-purpose stadiums all around the country, particularly in Karachi. The Hockey Club stadium hosted the 1974 RCD Cup and the inaugural 1976 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup. The consequent 1982 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup was held at the cricket National Stadium, while the 1985 edition was held at the Peshawar Stadium.
Although the Pakistan Football Federation doesn't own any stadium to date, since the 1980s Pakistan plays majority of their home matches at the Jinnah Sports Stadium in the capital Islamabad which first hosted the 1986 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup, and where the senior team won the 1989 South Asian Games. By the 1990s, the Railway Stadium in Lahore also served as one of the primary venues which also hosted the inaugural 1993 SAARC Gold Cup.
By the 2000s, several alternative stadiums emerged such as Karachi's People's Football Stadium and the Punjab Stadium in Lahore located near the headquarters of the Pakistan Football Federation.
The Jinnah Sports Stadium is the largest football stadium in Pakistan with a capacity of over 45,000, whereas the People's Football Stadium is second largest with 40,000.
In the Quaid-e-Azam International Cup, two Pakistan national teams usually participated, the Pakistan national football team under the name of Pakistan Greens, and the Pakistan national B team under the name of Pakistan Reds in 1976, Pakistan Blue in 1982, and Pakistan White in 1985, 1986 and 1987. Alongside the senior national team, the other national team mainly consisted of "second string" or youth international players. Having a two separate teams was very common during the 80s and 90s for developing South Asian countries, both Nepal (Nepal B) and Bangladesh (Bangladesh B) had second string team's. At the Afghanistan Republic Day Festival Cup in 1977, the B team managed by Qayyum Changezi also participated under the name of Shaheen FC. In May 1978, the team took part in a Youth Tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where the team faced Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Kenya.
At the inaugural 1993 South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation Gold Cup (now named SAFF Championship) held in Pakistan, Pakistan White also played exhibition matches against the national sides participating in the tournament.
Pakistan's arch-rivals in several sports including football are India. The two teams first met at the 1952 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament, which ended in a goalless draw and both teams crowned champions of the tournament. India first won at the consequent 1953 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament with a 1–0 win, with Neville D'Souza scoring a goal. Pakistan men’s football team recorded its first official win over India at the 1960 AFC Asian Cup qualification with Abdullah Rahi netting the winner. Currently, Pakistan has won three games, there have been eight draws and sixteen wins for India among the 27 games played so far. In addition, both teams have faced each other two times in unofficial exhibition matches after the finalisation of the 1953 and 1955 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament editions, with Pakistan winning both times by 1–0.
Pakistan is currently rivals with Afghanistan in many sports, including cricket and football. The national teams of Pakistan and Afghanistan regularly held sporting events in early years, but diplomatic ties were cut after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The ensuing civil war and political instability in Afghanistan prevented the two sides from meeting again until 2003. Due to the historical, cultural and political relationship between the two countries, contests against Pakistan generate much enthusiasm amongst Afghan football fans on account of their mutual relations and have been referred to as a "rivalry", although the interest in Pakistan toward the rivalry and for football in general is more muted.
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future match have been scheduled.
Win Draw Loss Fixture
The following players were named in the squad for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification against Syria on 25 March 2025.
Caps and goals are correct 25 March 2025, after the match against Syria.
The following players have also been called up to the Pakistan squad within the last twelve months.
The AFC Challenge Cup was held every two years from 2006 through 2014.
Source: