Pakistani football clubs have entered Asian association football competitions (AFC Champions League and AFC Cup) since the 1980s.
| Competition | Who Qualifies | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| AFC Challenge League Qualifying Stage (from the 2024–25 season) | Pakistan Premier League winner | 1 |
Pakistan made its debut in Asian club competitions in the 1985–86 Asian Club Championship, when Pakistan International Airlines qualified as winners of the Inter-Provincial Championship. In the next 1986 Asian Club Championship, Habib Bank entered the competition as champions of the same Inter-Provincial Championship. [1] From 1987 onwards, the National Football Championship winners represented Pakistan in Asia, including Pakistan Air Force (1987), Punjab (1989–90), Pakistan Airlines (1990–91), WAPDA (1991–92), and Allied Bank (1998–99). Crescent Textile Mills featured twice, in 1988–89 and 1995–96, based on their National Championship victories. However, anomalies occurred when clubs without national domestic honours, such as Wohaib (1992–93) and Defence FC (1993–94), were nominated instead. [2] All Pakistani entrants competed in the qualifying stages, with the sole exception of Wohaib FC, who became the only club to progress to the group stage. [1]
A separate Asian Cup Winners' Cup was introduced in 1990 intended for domestic cup champions. Pakistan sent National Football Championship winners Punjab (1990–91) and Pakistan Airlines (1998–99). National Departmental Championship winners Karachi Port Trust represented Pakistan in 1991–92, and President PFF Cup runners-up KRL in 2000–01. Other entries, such as PIA (1992–93), and Youth League FC (1993–94), did not qualify through domestic cup success and were irregular nominations. [2]
From 2005 onwards, winners of the Pakistan Premier League have represented the country in Asian competitions. Most entries were in the AFC President’s Cup (2005–2014), where KRL reached the 2013 final. [3] Since the President’s Cup was abolished, Pakistani champions K-Electric attempted the AFC Cup at the 2016 edition.
From the 2024–25 season, the league winner enters the AFC Challenge League qualifying stage.
1 The match was played over one leg due to civil unrest in Pakistan.
2 Saunders withdrew in 2nd leg, default 3–0 to Crescent Mills.
3 Crescent withdrew in 2nd leg, default 3–0 to Verdy Kawasaki.
4 Allied Bank Limited withdrew.
| Season | Round | Team | Result | Opponent | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990–91 | First Round |  Punjab | 0–9 |  Persepolis | Tehran, Iran |
| 2–4 | Persepolis | Pakistan | |||
| 1991–92 | First Round | Karachi Port Trust | 0–6 |  Pupuk Kaltim | Bontang, Indonesia |
| 0–3 | Pupuk Kaltim | Pakistan | |||
| 1992–93 | First Round | Pakistan Airlines | w/o 1 |  York Sporting Club | |
| York Sporting Club | |||||
| 1993–94 | First Round | Youth League FC | 0–3 |  New Radiant | Malé, Maldives |
| 0–2 | New Radiant | Pakistan | |||
| 1994–95 | None Entered | ||||
| 1995 | |||||
| 1996–97 | |||||
| 1997–98 | |||||
| 1998–99 | First Round | Pakistan Airlines | w/o 2 |  Happy Valley | |
| Happy Valley | |||||
| 1999–2000 | None Entered | ||||
| 2000–01 | First Round | Khan Research Laboratories | 1–1 |  BEC Tero Sasana | Bangkok, Thailand |
| 0–6 | BEC Tero Sasana | Karachi, Pakistan | |||
| 2001–02 | None Entered | ||||
1 Pakistan Airlines and York Sporting Club both withdrew. [4]
2 Pakistan Airlines withdrew. [5]
| AFC Cup | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Round | Team | Result | Opponent | Venue |
| 2015 | None Entered | ||||
| 2016 | Qualifying round | K-Electric | 3–3 |  Druk United | Thimphu, Bhutan |
| 1–0 |  Khoromkhon | Thimphu, Bhutan | |||
| Qualifying play-off | 0–2 |  Al-Hidd | Riffa, Bahrain | ||
| 2017 | No League Held | ||||
| 2018 | |||||
| 2019 | Entry denied | ||||
| 2020 | No League Held | ||||
| 2021 | |||||
| 2022 | |||||
| 2023–24 | |||||
| Pos | Player | Team | ACC/ACL | AC/ACL2 | APC/ACL3 | ACWC | Total | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kaleemullah Khan | Khan Research Laboratories | — | — | 8 | — | 8 | [6] |
| 2 | Arif Mehmood | WAPDA | — | — | 6 | — | 6 | [8] |
| 3 | Shabbir Muhammad | Pakistan Army | — | — | 3 | — | 3 | [11] |
| Umar Daraz | Pakistan Army | — | — | 3 | — | 3 | [11] | |
| Muhammad Adil | Khan Research Laboratories | — | — | 3 | — | 3 | [12] | |
| 6 | Saadullah Khan | Khan Research Laboratories | — | — | 2 | — | 2 | [12] |
| Muhammad Rasool | K-Electric | — | 2 | — | — | 2 | [13] |
| National teams |
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| League competitions |
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| Cup competitions |
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| Defunct competitions |
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| Lists and categories | |||||||
