Background
Inter-Departmental Championship (1979)
The Inter-Departmental Championship was introduced in 1979 to offer nationwide competition to departmental selections and armed forces teams excluded from the National Football Championship. [1]
Inter-Provincial Championship (1984–1985)
Due to internal conflicts within the PFF, the second and third editions occurred in 1984 and 1985, rebranded as the Inter Provincial Championship. [1] Although provincial teams were allowed to participate, they were reportedly not factored into the final ranking in both the 1984 and 1985 tournaments. The winners of both editions, Pakistan Airlines in 1984, and Habib Bank Limited in 1985 were given a slot in the Asian Champion Club Tournament, marking Pakistan domestic teams debut in Asian club competitions. [2] Later on, the winners of the National Football Championship, a separate tournament, represented Pakistan in Asian competitions.
Frequent changes (1987–1994)
In the 1980s and early 1990s, the tournament was held irregularly, undergoing frequent name changes. [1] [note 1]
President PFF Cup (1996–2003)
From 1996, the President's PFF Cup succeeded the earlier National Departmental Championship as the country's principal departments-only knockout tournament, ran in parallel from the National Football Championship which featured provinces and departments, and served as the second most important national football tournament after the National Championship. [3] It was contested annually at single host cities, with group phases leading into knockouts. [4]
The Pakistan Football Federation under new elected body headed by president Faisal Saleh Hayat abolished the President's PFF Cup along with the National Football Championship in 2004, to a national league. [3] [5] In 2005 the federation launched the National Football Challenge Cup, promoted in contemporary reports as an inaugural tournament and serving as the new national knockout competition. [6] [7] [8] The competition continued the departments-only format of the former President PFF Cup, with some exceptions. In 2005, the restructured Challenge Cup briefly admitted club sides in the preliminary stage before the seeded departments entered later rounds. [7] [9] In 2020, under the FIFA-appointed PFF Normalisation Committee, the field was enlarged to 28 teams and for the first time in over a decade included both departments and private clubs, in an effort to revive competition during administrative suspension and the COVID-19 pandemic. [10]
Since then, it has been branded as National Challenge Cup, with the exception of the 2016 PFF Cup, organised by the Lahore High Court appointed PFF administrator Justice Asad Munir. [11] [12] The National Challenge Cup scheduled for April 2016 was later called off due to lack of sponsorship, leaving the PFF Cup as the only national knockout event that year. [13] In 2017, with the Pakistan Football Federation still paralysed by internal disputes and official competitions suspended, National Bank of Pakistan organised the 2017 NBP President’s Cup, although not recognised as an official Pakistan cup competition, it functioned as a substitute competition during the hiatus. [14]
Giant killings
The possibility of unlikely victories in the earlier rounds of the competition, where lower ranked teams beat higher placed opposition in what is known as a "giant killing", is much anticipated by the public. Such upsets are considered an integral part of the tradition and prestige of the competition, and the attention gained by giant-killing teams can be as great as that for winners of the cup.
In 2009, non-league side Sindh Government Press defeated top-flight National Bank 3–2 in group stages. [15] In 2011, second-division club Ashraf Sugar Mills defeated Pakistan Premier League winners WAPDA F.C. 1–0, and they repeated the feat again in the group stages, defeating National Bank from Pakistan Premier League 2–0, as they finished top of the group. [16] In 2012, second-division side Pakistan Public Work Department defeated Pakistan Air Force 2–0 in group stages. In 2013, Pak Afghan Clearing defeated league winners and defending champions Khan Research Laboratories 2–1. At the 2023–24 PFF National Challenge Cup, Higher Education Commission, an ad-hoc team of players from different universities and colleges around Pakistan defeated Khan Research Laboratories at the quarterfinals by 1–0 at the stoppage time.
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2023–24 National Football Challenge Cup 