The Pakistan national football team () represents Pakistan in men's international football in FIFA-authorised 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 1954.
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 organisation 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.
History Early years (1950s)
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. Following the conclusion of the inaugural Inter-Provincial Football Tournament in 1948, the Pakistan Football Federation planned to send a national team to compete at the 1948 Summer Olympics. However, for reasons that remain unclear, the team ultimately did not participate in the tournament.
In 1950, Pakistan embarked upon a tour to Iran and Iraq. The national team faced Iran in their first official international game in Tehran on 27 October 1950, losing the game 1–5, with Abdul Wahid Durrani scoring the lone goal. The match also took place 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, losing against Tehran's Taj by 1–6 scoreline and drew 2–2 against a team from Isfahan. The following month, the team toured the country of Iraq, where due to the Iraq Football Association's inability to gather a full national team, Pakistan played an unofficial friendly against the club Al-Haras Al-Malaki, which resulted in a 1–1 draw.
Pakistan's next international outing came in the 1952 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament. They finished as joint champions alongside India after finishing with the same points in the table. Pakistan was awarded the shared trophy for the first six months after winning a coin toss. The same year, Pakistan played a friendly against Iran in home venue, with the match ending in a goalless draw.
During the early 1950s, Pakistan played internationally in the following Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament editions which were played in Burma in 1953, India in 1954, East Pakistan in 1955. The team made its first appearance at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila, Philippines, where on 2 May 1954, Masood Fakhri had most notably become the first Pakistani player to score a hat-trick in an international match, as Pakistan thumped Singapore 6–2 in a group match. However, Pakistan failed to advance out of the group stages, after losing to Burma.
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. The same year, the team toured Ceylon, Singapore, and China, and two years later featured at the 1958 Asian Games held in Japan.
In 1959 after a tour to Burma, 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 memorable victories over Iran by 4–1, as well as a win over arch-rivals India by 0–1, and managing to secure a 2–2 draw against Israel, finishing in third place in the group, ahead of hosts India, and behind Iran and Israel.
Emergence (1960s)
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 a 7–0 victory over Thailand, and a 3–1 win over Japan. Two years later in the 1962 Merdeka Tournament, Pakistan ended runner up after falling to Singapore by 1–2 in the final.
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 in 1964 playing several test matches against local sides, including a 2–0 victory against the China national team.
In 1965 after a tour to Ceylon involving several test matches, they played in the inaugural 1965 RCD Cup and finished third. In the 1960s, the national team also hosted several teams from Soviet Union and Dallas Tornados for unofficial test matches. In March 1967, the national team played a four-match test series against Saudi Arabia in Lyallpur, Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi, winning and losing once, and drawing twice. Months later, Pakistan lost their Asian Cup qualifiers against Burma and Cambodia and drew their final match against India. Pakistan also entered the 1968 Merdeka Tournament, but did not feature in it, withdrawing earlier before the tournament started.
They then hosted the second 1967 RCD Cup and finished third. In 1969, they travelled to Iran to take part in the 1969 Friendship Cup, in which they had a 2–1 win against Iraq and a record 9–1 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.
Dark era (1970s) Following the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh. This separation also led to the loss of the Dhaka First Division League, which had provided a higher standard of competition than was typically found in West Pakistan, often drawing leading players from West Pakistan and functioned alongside the National Football Championship as a key competitive platform.
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. Two years later, Pakistan held the inaugural 1976 Quaid-e-Azam International Tournament in Karachi. Earlier that same year, Pakistan participated in the third edition of the Afghanistan Republic Day Festival Cup, finishing in fifth place.
In 1978, Pakistan participated in the "Saudi Arabia Football Federation International Tournament", the team lost their first match against Saudi Arabia 0–6. The following match against South Korea B ended in another loss, with a scoreline of 0–5, the final match against Kenya ended in 3–8 defeat.
Resurgence and South Asian Success (1980–1989) After several years of competitive football inactivity, the national team was invited for the 1981 Merdeka Tournament, however, the team declined the invitation, withdrawing from the tournament. Instead, they participated in the 1981 King's Cup, Pakistan secured a goalless draw against Semarang from Indonesia. After a loss to Thailand, they gained a 3–2 victory against Malaysia and although they lost a close game against 1 August from China, they were able to win 1–0 in their final game against Singapore.
Pakistan hosted the 1982 Quaid-e-Azam International Tournament involving Iran, Bangladesh, Oman, Nepal and the second string 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 Blues team. In 1984, the national team participated at the 1984 Merdeka Tournament, and later at the 1984 AFC Asian Cup qualification, losing 4 out of 5 games, the only victory coming against North Yemen 4–1.
The national team hosted another 1985 Quaid-e-Azam International Tournament, this time inviting North Korea XI, Indonesia Youth, Bangladesh and Nepal. A goalless draw against the North Koreans boosted the side, as they beat Nepal by one goal. 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 in the third place match.
After participating at the 1986 Fajr International Tournament in Iran, the team finished runners-up at the 1986 Quaid-e-Azam International Tournament involving China, Sri Lanka, Nepal and a South Korean XI. In the 1986 Asian Games, Pakistan lost all their games.
In 1987 after an unsuccessful campaign at the 1988 Summer Olympics Qualification against Nepal at away venue, 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, losing all matches. 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.
Sustained Regional Competitiveness (1990s)
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 Muhammad 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 in 1993, the team hosted the inaugural 1993 SAARC Gold Cup in Lahore, finishing fourth. At the 1993 South Asian Games, they were unable to get past the group stage.
Pakistan went out of the 1995 SAARC Gold Cup group stage on goal difference. 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.