Afghan Football Club Chaman, or simply AFC Chaman, is a Pakistani professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Chaman Chaman (Pashto and ) is the capital city of the Chaman District in Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan, Pakistan. It is located near the Durand Line, Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The city is situated south of the Wesh–Chaman border crossing with ...

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

, a border city of Pakistan near

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The club last competed in the

Pakistan Premier League The Pakistan Premier League (PPL; ) is a Pakistani semi-professional league for men's football clubs. The top tier of the Pakistan football league system, the PPL operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the PFFL B Division. The ...

History

Early years

The club was founded in 1960 as Afghan Agency Chaman. The

Nazim Subahdar, also known as Nazim, was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province), Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Mamluk dynasty, Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, and the Mughal era who ...

of Chaman Abdul Qayyum Khadakoo was one of the founding members of the club. On 27 June 1965 they won the "All Pakistan Tournament" in

Sibi Sibi (; ;) is a city situated in the Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan Subdivisions of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. The city serves as the administrative headquarters of the Sibi District, district and Sibi Tehsil, tehsil of the same name ...

which became their first ever tournament victory in Pakistan. In 1967 they competed in "All Pakistan General Musa Tournament" held at

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

. In 1999 they competed in All-Pakistan Prime Minister's Peace Cup, where they were placed in group F with

WAPDA The Pakistan Water & Power Development Authority (), colloquially known as WAPDA, is a Pakistani government-owned public utility agency maintaining hydropower and water in Pakistan, although it does not manage thermal power plants. WAPDA includes ...

and

Khan Research Laboratories The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (shortened as KRL), is a federally funded research and development laboratory located in Kahuta at a short distance from Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan. Established in 1976, the laboratory is best know ...

, they lost both their matches 1–0, knocking them out of the tournament. Their first top-flight national competition came in 2000, when they competed in the

National Football Challenge Cup The PFF National Challenge Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Pakistani football within the Pakistan football league system. It is organized by and named after the Pakistan Football Federation. Initially named as ...

, they were to face

Karachi Port Trust The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) () is a Government of Pakistan, Pakistani federal government agency, under the administrative control of the Maritime Secretary of Pakistan, Federal Maritime Secretary that oversees the operations of the Port of Ka ...

but withdrew from the tournament. In 2000, Afghan FC Chaman played in an invitation tour at

Kandahar Stadium Kandahar Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The stadium is used mainly for association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 F ...

in neighbouring Afghanistan against a local team from

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

. During the third and final game of the tour,

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

religious police burst into the ground and stopped the game in the middle. The Taliban arrested twelve of the Afghan Chaman's players and had their heads shaved as punishment for wearing shorts. In 2002, they changed their name to current name and competed in All-Pakistan Defense of the Pakistan Unity Solidarity Football Tournament, finishing second in the group behind Karachi Port Trust, although they were replaced by Crescent Textiles Mills.

Pakistan Premier League (2004–Present)

In 2004, Afghan FC Chaman became one of the founding members of the

. The team avoided relegation in the 2006–07 season, finishing in the ninth spot, 5 points above relegation zone. The club emerged strongly, being few of the football clubs that gave competition to well-established departmental sides which dominated the Pakistan football domestic structure in the early years.

Rivalries

Chaman Derby

Afghan Chaman shares rivalry with fellow hometown club

Muslim FC Muslim Football Club is a Pakistani professional football club based in Chaman, Balochistan that competes in the Pakistan Premier League. The players during the club's initial years were semi-professional, most having another source of income bes ...

, which have managed to command the highest crowds in Pakistani domestic football.

Players

Current squad

Personnel

Current technical staff

Competitive record

The club's competitive records since the 2004–05 season are listed below.

Honours

Domestic

:* Runners-up (1): 2011–12 * Balochistan Cup :* Champions : 2019

Notable players

The players below had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed, represented their countries before or after playing for ''Afghan FC Chaman''. * Manzoor Ahmed *

Muhammad Essa Muhammad Essa Khan (Urdu, Pashto: ; born 20 November 1983) is a Pakistani football manager and former footballer who played as a forward. He is the current head coach of Khan Research Laboratories. A former captain of the Pakistan national te ...

* Kaleemullah Khan * Jadid Khan Pathan * Mehmood Khan * Nasrullah Khan * Imran Niazi *

Haroon Yousaf Haroon Yousaf (born 10 November 1973) is a Pakistani former footballer. The versatile footballer played as a midfielder and defender. A former captain of the Pakistan national team, Haroon played 49 full internationals for Pakistan between 199 ...

References

External links

Afghan FC Chaman
at Global Sports Archive {{Pakistan Premier League Football clubs in Pakistan Football in Chaman Association football clubs established in 1960 1960 establishments in Pakistan