2023–24 National Challenge Cup

The tournament took place after a gap of nearly three-and-a-half years because of the Pakistan Football Federation's suspension by FIFA due to a power struggle within the Pakistan Football Federation. FIFA lifted the ban imposed on PFF after the legitimate Normalization Committee body was restored. The tournament was announced briefly after departmental sports in Pakistan were restored in August 2022 by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Many of the departmental clubs were disbanded following the shutdown of departmental sports in Pakistan in September 2021. Departmental teams were then restricted to the National Challenge Cup, following their controversial participation in the Pakistani domestic league setup in the previous years. A PFF official stated that from now on, there will be separate competitions for departments and clubs. When a domestic league is held, it will be solely for clubs. The PFF Constitution stated that all departmental players need to be “affiliated with a club”, with some teams taking advantage of it such as POPO FC, which had their team playing the Challenge Cup under the department with the name of Mamsons Builders. Lyallpur FC competed under the name of Otto Cranes. == Format ==

In the first phase, teams, bracketed in seven groups, competed on home and away basis. The leading two teams from each group and the two best third-placed sides progressed to the round of 16. The first phase was held at Karachi, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Chaman, Rawalpindi and Islamabad simultaneously. After an uncertain inactivity almost 15 months after it began, the National Challenge Cup knockout stage was finally announced to reach its end in Lahore from May 1 to 12 in 2024. == Teams ==

The 27 teams participating in the tournament are as below: == First phase ==

Group A Gwadar Port Authority withdrew due to their internal issues. ---- Group B ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group C ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group D ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group E ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group F ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group G ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- == Second phase ==

Group A ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group B ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group C ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group D ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- == Knockout round ==

Bracket Quarter-finals ---- ---- ---- Semi-finals ---- Third position Final == Awards ==