The National Women Football Championship is the top

cup competition A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

for women's football clubs in Pakistan – designed as an equivalent to the

National Challenge Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. Op ...

for men. It was started in 2005 by the

Pakistan Football Federation Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in Pakistan. Founded in 1947, its headquarters are at the FIFA Football House in Lahore, Punjab near Punjab Stadium. The federation manages the men's and women's ...

. Young Rising Stars has been the most successful team in the history of he competition, winning it five times (including four consecutive wins from 2010 to 2013). WAPDA has had the most final appearances (7), winning once and losing six times. The most recent champion is

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the Partition of British India, which occurred as a result ...

, which defended its 2018 National Women Football Championship, 2018 title in 2019–20 National Women Football Championship, 2019-20.

History

The first edition was held in 2005 National Women Football Championship, 2005, organised by

(PFF). On 4th August 2010,

President Faisal Saleh Hayat dedicated the Best Player Award of the National Women Football Championship to Misha Dawood, the late Diya W.F.C. midfielder. Misha had been on the ill-fated Airblue Flight 202 which crashed in the Margalla Hills on 28 July 2010. Due to the political and judicial crisis of 2015 at the PFF, the championship was not held from 2015 to 2018. The 2021 National Women Football Championship, 2021 edition was cancelled, no official reason was given, but the decision took place after the

's office was attacked and people inside held hostage by its former president, Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah, and his group. The championship was interrupted before the knockout stage started.

Format

The number of teams participating has varied through the years. In the 2005 National Women Football Championship, first edition, 8 teams took part. In the 2018 National Women Football Championship, 2018 edition, 16 teams participated in the tournament, with three departmental teams, four provincial teams, four regional teams and five club teams, divided into four groups, winner of each group will earn a spot in semi-finals. For the 2021 National Women Football Championship, 2021 competition, 20 teams divided into four groups were originally supposed to participate in 59 scheduled matches, but one of them withdrew before the tournament commenced.

Tournament summary

List of finals

* ^g Guest teams invited by

, Afghanistan women's national football team, Afghanistan represented Afghanistan and Malavan F.C., Malavan BA represented Iran.

Performance by club

* ^g Guest teams invited by

, Afghanistan women's national football team, Afghanistan represented Afghanistan and Malavan BA represented Iran.

References

External links

Pakistan Football Federation official websiteFootball PakistanNational Women Championship
{{Top level women's association football leagues around the world National Women Football Championship Football leagues in Pakistan, Women Top level women's association football leagues in Asia, Pakistan Women's sports leagues in Pakistan Sports leagues established in 2005 2005 establishments in Pakistan