Pakistan national under-23 football team
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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 winning 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.[1]
 | |||
| Nickname(s) | Green Shirts, Pak Shaheens | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Pakistan Football Federation | ||
| Confederation | AFC (Asia) | ||
| Sub-confederation | SAFF (South Asia) | ||
| Head coach | Shahzad Anwar | ||
| Captain | Abdullah Shah | ||
| FIFA code | PAK | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Pakistan 0–1 Yemen  (30 August 1991) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Pakistan 4–0 Bhutan  (Colombo, Sri Lanka; 23 August 2006) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
Pakistan 0–8 Bahrain  (Isa Town, Bahrain; 28 February 2007) | |||
| Asian Cup | |||
| Appearances | none | ||
| Asian Games | |||
| Appearances | 5 (first in 2002) | ||
| Best result | 17/25 (2018) | ||
| South Asian Games | |||
| Appearances | 3 (first in 2004) | ||
| Best result |  Gold Medal (2004, 2006) | ||
Medal record | |||
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.[2]
Muhammad Essa ended the tournament as top scorer and was player of the tournament, and helped Pakistan win the gold medal.[3] 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.[4]
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.[5]
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.[5]
Summer Olympic Games
Pakistan first participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics qualifiers, finishing last placed with Yemen, Qatar, UAE, and Iran within the group.[6]
In 2007, Pakistan thrashed Singapore in both the home and away legs by 2-1 and 3-2,[7] consecutively under the newly appointed head coach Muhammad Rashid,[7] and won the preliminary round of 2008 Summer Olympics first time in the history of Olympics.
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.[8]
The team subsequently felt short participating in the 2006, 2010, and 2014 editions.
FIFA restored membership of PFF on 13 March 2018.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11][12] Pakistan expected to qualify for knockouts being 3rd in the group. However, the team fell short in terms of Goal Difference.
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
- 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 |
- The following players were called up for the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification.
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.[13][14]
| AFC U-23 Championship 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 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 8 | ||||||||
| 2016 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | |||||||||
| 2018 | did not enter | ||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Withdrawn | Withdrawn | |||||||||||||
| 2022 | Suspended | Suspended | |||||||||||||
| 2024 | did not qualify | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | ||||||||
| 2026 | To be determined | To be determined | |||||||||||||
| Totals | 0/7 | 0 Titles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 27 | |
| Summer Olympic Games record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| 1992 | Did not qualify | |||||||
| 1996 | ||||||||
| 2000 | Did not enter | |||||||
| 2004 | Did not qualify | |||||||
| 2008 | ||||||||
| 2012 | ||||||||
| 2016 | ||||||||
| 2020 | to be determined | |||||||
| 2024 | ||||||||
| 2028 | ||||||||
| Total | 0 / 7 | |||||||
| Asian Games record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Position | Pld | W | T | L | GF | GA |
| Senior National Team | ||||||||
| 1951 – 1998 | 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 | |||||||
| Total | 5/6 | - | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 31 |
| 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 | |||||||
| 2019 | Did not enter | |||||||
| Total | 3/5 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 20 | 7 | |
- ^ "Pakistan U23". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
- ^ "9th South Asian Federation Games 2004 (Pakistan)". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
- ^ "9th South Asian Federation Games 2004 (Pakistan)". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
- ^ "Pakistan win SAF football - Rediff.com". m.rediff.com. 6 April 2004.
- ^ a b "Pakistan defeat Lanka for football gold in SAF". Hindustan Times. 28 August 2006. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
- ^ "Games of the XXV. Olympiad - Football Qualifying Tournament". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
- ^ a b Ahsan, Ali (2 February 2011). "A history of football in Pakistan — Final part". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ "Asian Games 2002". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
- ^ "FIFA lifts suspension of Pakistan Football Federation". 15 March 2018. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
- ^ "FIFA lifts suspension of Pakistan Football Federation". 15 March 2018. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
- ^ "Asian Games football: Pakistan bag first victory after 44 years". The Express Tribune. 19 August 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
- ^ "Saddam laments lack of earnings for Pakistan footballers". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
- ^ "Call to improve AFC competitions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 27 July 2011. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
- ^ "Competitions Committee takes key decisions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2019.