Origins The
National Football Championship served as the highest level football competition from 1948 to 2003, held on knock-out basis and a closed format competition rather than league system. The roots of national level football league in Pakistan trace back to 1992, when under the tenure of PFF General Secretary Hafiz Salman Butt, the
1992–93 and
1993–94 seasons of National Football Championship were contested in a league-style format rather than as a knockout competition, becoming Pakistan's first ever national league format competition. Sponsored as the
National Lifebuoy A-Division Football Championship, the tournament ran across several months and introduced a system of promotion and relegation with the second-tier
National Lifebuoy B-Division Football Championship. The A-Division titles were won by
Pakistan Airlines (
1992–93) and
Pakistan Army (
1993–94), while the B-Division was won by
Crescent Textile Mills (1992),
National Bank (1993), and Frontier Scouts (1994). The experiment lasted only two seasons. Following Butt’s removal from office in 1994, the competition reverted to its previous knockout format. and in 2004 introduced the National A Division Football League, which contained 16 clubs. With the inception of the newly formed league,
provincial and
divisional teams were phased out from the top tier. In contrast,
departmental and
armed forces teams remained active in the new league format.
WAPDA became the inaugural champions, with
Army finishing second and
KRL third. In 2006, the Pakistan Football Federation introduced the
National Club Championship as a third tier beneath the PFF League. In the
2007–08 season, the league was expanded to 14 clubs. For the
2010–11 season the league was expanded to 16 clubs. The two bottom teams at the end of each Pakistan Premier League season would to be relegated to the PFF League, while the top 2 teams in the Football Federation League would be promoted to the Pakistan Premier League. Despite the revamp and introduction of the Pakistan Premier League in 2004, the domestic setup remained under severe criticism due to the precarious and unprofessional conditions and setup, and continuous domination of departments in the domestic competition. The teams essentially survived on their department sport budgets, with the players sidelined as permanent employees than as professional footballers. until the lift on suspension by
FIFA on 13 March 2018. The
2018–19 season was organised by two different federations, and was reportedly not recognised by
FIFA and
AFC.
Faisal Saleh Hayat-led
Pakistan Football Federation, which was internationally recognised, started the league and non-FIFA recognised Ashfaq Hussain Shah group, which formed a parallel PFF, coming into power by third-party interference through the PFF elections conducted by the
Supreme Court a month before the termination of the season completed the event. After the suspension once again from all football activities by FIFA on 7 April 2021, the
2021–22 season was initially organised by the Ashfaq Hussain Shah group, who again came to power after attacking and taking charge of the PFF office. The tournament was suspended after a few months into the season and then cancelled. Majority of the departmental clubs were also disbanded following the shutdown of departmental sports in Pakistan in September 2021. Departmental sports in Pakistan were restored in August 2022. As of July 2023 however, few departments reportedly remained active in football, and since then became restricted to the
PFF National Challenge Cup.
Expected revamp The upcoming season is expected to include only club sides, excluding the departmental teams which would not be able to take part from now on. The expected revamp is followed by the initial first round in the shape of district club championships, which also served as club scrutiny of the elections of the Pakistan Football Federation in 2024. After a second round throughout the country, the district champions clubs would go through the third round at the provincial level, featuring top clubs of the federating units. Following, one or two top clubs from each province and regions are expected to feature in the season. == Names ==