PIA FC

PIA
Full name Pakistan International Airlines
Football Club
Nickname(s) The Airliners
Founded 1958
Ground KMC Stadium, Karachi
(Capacity: 6,000)
Chairman Lt.Col Moin Rauf
Manager Tariq Lutfi
League Pakistan Premier League
PPL 2007/8 8th
Home colours
Away colours

PIA are a Pakistani football club who play in the Pakistan Premier League. Founded in 1958 and based in Karachi, the Pakistan International Airlines affiliated team are the most successful Pakistani football club, winning the national championship a record 9 times.

Their first championship came in 1971 when thy beat Karachi. They defended their title in 1972 when they held off Peshawar White. 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 challenege from Pakistan Railways FC. PIA 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 PAF FC in 1981 to win their sixth title. They had to wait 8 years for their next title win, SGP FC were the team beaten in 1989(2). In the 1992/93 they won their 8th title when PIA beat Pakistan Army FC. In the 1997(2) season, PIA fought off tough competition from ABL FC to win their 9th national championship. PIA were elected to PPL for the 2007/08 season without needing promotion when the PPL expanded.

Achievements

1971, 1972, 1975(1), 1976, 1978, 1981, 1989(2), 1992/3, 1997(2)
1984

Performance in AFC competitions

1986: Qualifying Stage
1991: Qualifying Stage
1992/93: withdrew in First Round
1998/99: withdrew in First Round

Current Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 GK Syed Sultan Ali
3 DF Muhammad Irfan
4 DF Zubair Moazzam
5 DF Haji Muhammad (Vice-captain)
6 MF Imran Abdullah
8 MF Ali Adeem Shahzad
9 FW Imran Hashmi
10 MF Nasrullah Khan (captain)
11 FW Nazir Ahmed
12 MF Shakir Lashari
No. Position Player
13 DF Ali Ehsan
14 FW Zeeshan Ali
15 MF Liaquat Ali
16 MF Waseem Ullah
18 MF Adnan Abbasi
19 MF Nadeem Tariq
20 DF Abdul Jabbar
23 MF Abdul Ghaffar
77 GK Bilal Rafiq