History
British Raj
Before the independence of Pakistan, Kolkata Mohammedan, a club primarily based after the Muslim identity of the subcontinent attracted several players from all over the British Raj. [2] After the partition in 1947, the club lost many of its elite patrons, members as well as players, who chose to move to newly formed Islamic state of Pakistan. [3] One of the players was Osman Jan originally hailing from Delhi, who eventually became the first ever captain of the Pakistan national football team in their international debut in 1950. [4]
Moideen Kutty, originally hailing from Malappuram in South India eventually became the fourth captain in history of the national team. In 1947, during the Partition of British India, Kutty was serving in the Royal Indian Air Force, where the majority of his colleagues hailed from the western Punjab Province, which eventually became part of Pakistan after the independence. Consequently, he opted for Pakistan in order to remain alongside his teammates and continue his football journey. [5] Consequently, Kutty became a part of the Royal Pakistan Air Force, which emerged following the partition of the British Indian military forces. He continued his football involvement in his new homeland. [6] He was appointed captain of the Pakistan team for the 1954 Asian Games in Manila. [7] [8]
Post-independence
In 1989, England-born Jimmy Khan became the first overseas player to be called up to play for the Pakistan national football team, where he made a single appearance at the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification on 10 February 1989 against the United Arab Emirates. [9]
In 2005, Premier League club Fulham player Zesh Rehman made his international debut for Pakistan in the 2005 SAFF Gold Cup. [10] The next year Usman Gondal also made his debut for Pakistan. [11] In 2007, the recruitment of overseas players intensified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification against Iraq with the inclusion of Adnan Ahmed, Amjad Iqbal, and Iltaf Ahmed. Adam Karim and Azeem Razwan were also included in the squad, however they failed to make the international debut. [12] The following year, Atif Bashir and Kashif Siddiqi also joined the national side. [13] For the 2009 SAFF Championship, Reis Ashraf and Shabir Khan were included. [14]
In 2011, Australia based Ahmad Akbar Khan became the first non-English player to feature for Pakistan in a test match against Palestine. [15] Throughout the years, the presence of overseas players was generally not well received by some local stakeholders, as it was felt that they did not improve the level of the team or accused them of lack of commitment because of their difficulty to join the team 15 days before the training camps. [16] Former players such as Mujahid Tareen, Nasir Ismail, Muhammad Essa and Jaffar Khan, [17] [18] [19] [20] and coaches such as Tariq Lutfi and Akhtar Mohiuddin, [21] [22] [23] [24] also criticised the inclusion of overseas players several times.
The inclusion of Serbian coach Zaviša Milosavljević brought Norway born Omar Malik and Denmark based Hassan Bashir, Yousuf Butt and Mohammad Ali for a friendly against Singapore in 2012. The next year, Yousuf's brother Yaqoob Butt also joined the squad. [25] The appointment of Bahraini coach Mohammad Al-Shamlan was again marred by controversies as he constantly sidelined overseas players in important competitions in hope to develop local talent. [26] [27] [28] However, a notable inclusion was of professional footballer Nabil Aslam in 2015 who was scouted several times previously. [29] After a long period of inactivity due to ban on the Pakistan Football Federation by FIFA, Adnan Mohammad and Navid Rahman were recruited, followed by Rahis Nabi and Samir Nabi. [30] After another ban and period of inactivity, the team received another influx of overseas players in 2022 and 2023 to compensate for the inactivity of domestic setup since years. [31] [32] However, the action was again denounced by previous critics. [33] [34] [35] [1]
