History
Early years
The 1948 Pakistan National Football League was the first season held between 28 May and 5 June which ended with Sindh Red being crowned champions after defeating Sindh Blue in the final. [4] However, any sort of professionalism in the game was non-existent, as the first participants of the championship used players from local schools, colleges, government departments that coincidentally employed sportsmen, and open trials. [1] Parallel to the championship, many separate amateur regional leagues with promotion and relegation featuring clubs were also held, like Karachi Football League, Lahore Football League, or Quetta Football League. Players frequently took part in these competitions for their local clubs, while also being selected to represent either their provincial/divisional associations or their departmental teams in the National Championship. [5]
After first two years of lack of funds and mismanagement, the Pakistan Football Federation failed to organise the National Championship 1949. However, in early 1950, the PFF was completely restructured and reorganised, bringing the competition back, this time held in early September 1950 at Quetta where Balochistan Red beat Sindh in the final. [1] The results of the 1950 National Championship contributed in the selection of the first ever Pakistan national football team, which debuted internationally on its first official tour to Iran and Iraq in October 1950. [1]
Karachi-Dhaka rivalry (1960–1971)
Between 1960 and 1966, football teams from Karachi and Dacca began dominating when the two cities won five consecutive national championships between 1960 and 1966. Much of the credit was due to the better organised and well-attended Dhaka League that gave a level of competitive professionalism in East Pakistan, which lacked in West Pakistan. [2] [6] Many leading players affiliated with Dhaka League clubs, both from West and East Pakistan, were chosen to represent the East Pakistan provincial team or the Dhaka Division team in the National Championship. [1] [2]
Before the Bangladesh Liberation War, the 1969–70 National Championship was won by Chittagong in East Pakistan as they beat Peshawar in the final at Comilla. A year later without teams from East Pakistan, Pakistan Airlines won its first ever national championship in Multan after overcoming Karachi in the final. [2]
Pakistan Airlines dominance (1971–1991)
After the formation of Bangladesh in December 1971, clubs from East Pakistan stopped featuring in the league. Football mainly survived on the basis of sports budgets of majority of the departmental teams and armed forces teams which already dominated in West Pakistan, which hired footballers as employees and provided them with a basic wage to play for their sides and work full time in the off-season. [2] These government entities primarily used investment in sports as evidence of their Corporate Social Responsibility, with little incentive to develop talent or professionalise their set-ups. [7] Similar system was also prevalent in several countries such as the Soviet Union, and was abolished in these nations after the 1960s. [8]
In the consequent years, Pakistan Airlines continued dominating the domestic structure. Their third title came in the first of the two 1975 seasons, defeating provincial side Punjab A. In 1976 they retained their title, holding off a challenge from Pakistan Railways. [3] Pakistan Airlines were defending champions in 1978, after there being no football 1977 due to martial law, but they continued to dominate Pakistani football and beat Sindh Red to take the championship for a fifth time.
They defeated Pakistan Air Force in 1981 to win their sixth title. They had to wait eight years for their next title win, Sindh Government Press were the team beaten in 1989. [3]
League format (1992–1994)
Under the General Secretary of the Pakistan Football Federation Hafiz Salman Butt, the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons won by Pakistan Airlines and Pakistan Army respectively structured on a proper league-style basis and spread over a number of months. [9] [10] The top division, named as National Lifebuoy A-Division Football Championship, operated alongside a system of promotion and relegation with the second-tier National LifebuoyB-Division Football Championship, which was won by Crescent Textile Mills (1992), National Bank (1993), and Frontier Scouts (1994). [3]
The years were often regarded as the best administrative era of Pakistani football. [11] Butt managed to get a three-year sponsorship deal with Lifebuoy Soap, with amounts of 35 million PKR spent in the organisations of the seasons and televised through the country. [9] [7] [11] Out of that amount, 15 million rupees were spent on advertisement and remaining 20 million on the players and teams over the three-year period. [12] The teams were awarded 50,000 rupee bonuses. [12]
Butt was eventually ousted by Mian Muhammad Azhar due to political rifts and alleged abuse of power. With Butt's dismissal in 1994 and ban by FIFA in 1995, Pakistani football declined again into an era of mismanagement and long-lasting lack of sponsors in the upcoming years. [9] [10] The National Championship also reverted to its previous knockout format.
Later years
Pakistan Airlines lost their dominance until the end of the 1990s, winning their last of 9 national championships in 1997. WAPDA, Pakistan Army, and Allied Bank before their disbanding in early 2000s took over as the dominant sides in Pakistan. The physically dominant gameplay of Punjab teams, had over-taken Karachi football by then. [9]
