Pakistan national under-23 football team

The Pakistan U-23 national football team, also known as the Pakistan Olympic football team is a youth football team operated under the Pakistan Football Federation. The team represents Pakistan in international youth football competitions in the Summer Olympics, Asian Games and the South Asian Games (of which it has won the 2004 and 2006 editions), as well as any other under-23 and under-22 international football tournaments, such as the AFC U-23 Asian Cup.^[1]

The under-23 era for Pakistan began in the early 1990s when men's Olympic football was reformed as an under-23 competition for the 1992 Barcelona Games (with the "three over-age players" allowance added from 1996). Prior to that in earlier Olympic qualifiers, where many teams played under amateur eligibility with no age cap, Pakistan like many Asian countries fielded their senior national team in the 1964 and 1988 qualifiers editions. Asia later aligned some regional events, the Asian Games adopted the U-23 with over-age format in 2002,^[2] and the South Asian Games did so in 2004.^[3]

Within this new framework, Pakistan entered 1992 Summer Olympics Qualifiers, finishing bottom of a group with Yemen, Qatar, the UAE and Iran.^[4] The side also took part in the 1996 Summer Olympics Qualifiers but did not register a win and went out in the preliminary rounds.

The under-23 side participated at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. They were put into a group with Kuwait, North Korea and Hong Kong, losing all matches.^[5] The next year they also lost in both legs against Syria at the 2004 Summer Olympics Qualifiers.

The under-23 side won the gold medal at the 2004 South Asian Games held across 3 venues in Pakistan from March 28 to April 6, 2004. The tournament was the first to introduce an under-23 tournament system for the football events.^[3] Muhammad Essa ended the tournament as top scorer and was player of the tournament, and helped Pakistan win the gold medal.^[6] His goal in the semi final against Sri Lanka which ultimately ended in a 1–1 draw until the penalty shootout took Pakistan all the way to the final against India, where Abdul Aziz's goal gave Pakistan a 1–0 victory.^[7]

In the 2006 South Asian Games held across in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 14 to 26 August 2006, Pakistan again won the gold medal.^[8] After advancing from the group stages, Essa's strike against Nepal led Pakistan to the final against Sri Lanka, which ended in a victory for the Green Shirts thanks to a goal by Adeel Ahmed in the half time.^[8] However, at the 2006 Asian Games, Pakistan failed to advance past group stage.

In 2007, Pakistan thrashed Singapore in both the home and away legs by 2–1 and 3–2, consecutively under the newly appointed head coach Muhammad Rasheed, and won the preliminary round of 2008 Summer Olympics first time in the history of Olympics.^[9]

In 2010, the team failed to advance past group stage at both 2010 South Asian Games and the 2010 Asian Games. In 2011, after a tour to Thailand, the team played at the 2012 Summer Olympic Qualifiers against Malaysia, and also played in a two-match test series against Palestine in March 2011.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15]}

The next year, the team featured in the 2012 Palestine International Cup,^[16] 2013 AFC U-22 qualification and the Mahinda Rajapaksa Trophy in Sri Lanka.^[17]

In 2014, the team featured again in the 2014 Palestine International Championship, and later played a friendly against the Indonesia senior team.^{[18][19][20][21][22]} The team subsequently failed to get past the group stage at the 2014 Asian Games. The next year the team played at the 2016 AFC U-23 qualification in the United Arab Emirates.

The team missed international exposure for the next 3 years, due to internal crisis within the Pakistan Football Federation, and the consequent suspension by FIFA on 10 October 2017. FIFA restored membership of PFF on 13 March 2018.^[23] With the 2018 Asian Games approaching in August, the team had very little time to prepare. PFF announced the signing of new Brazilian coach José Antonio Nogueira the team flew to Indonesia. On 14 August 2018, the team played its first group game against Vietnam, which resulted in a 3–0 loss. On 16 August 2018, the team faced a loss against Japan by a scoreline of 4–0. Pakistan defeated Nepal by 2–1 in their final group game which was the former's first win in Asian Games after 44 years.^[24][25]

The team again missed international exposure due to another suspension on the PFF, until 2023 when the team under head coach Shahzad Anwar featured at the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification, losing all three games against Japan, Bahrain and Palestine.^[26]

For all previous match results of the national under-23 team, see the team's results page. The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss

As of July 2025

• The following players were called up for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification.^[37]

• 2002 Asian Games
• 2006 Asian Games
• 2010 Asian Games
• 2014 Asian Games
• 2018 Asian Games

• 2004 South Asian Games

AFC U-23 Championship was initially set to be held as AFC U-22 Championships in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2012, but the finals tournament was postponed to be played in January 2014.^[38][39]

• South Asian Games
  • Champions (2): 2004, 2006

• Pakistan Football Federation
• Pakistan national football team
• Pakistan national under-20 football team
• Pakistan national under-17 football team
• Pakistan women's national football team

• Pakistan Football Federation