Ghulam Sarwar Sr. (1954 – 10 October 2024), was a Pakistani

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Sarwar played for the Pakistan national team in the 1970s, and captained the national team on several occasions.

Club career

Hailing from

Lyari Lyari (Urdu: ; ; Balochi: لێاری) is a historic locality in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the most densely populated part of Karachi, and is one of its earliest settled areas. History Lyari is said to be one of the oldest inhabited parts of Kar ...

, Sarwar rose through the ranks from school football. During the 1970s, several local leagues were launched across the Middle East, where several Pakistani players represented club sides in these leagues and some of these players even coached the clubs’ new youth setups. Subsequently, Sarwar moved to the United Arab Emirates, where he featured for

Emirates Club Emirates Club () is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. They play in the UAE Pro League after being promoted from the UAE First Division League. They play their home game ...

in the mid-1970s. He played for the

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

based club alongside national teammate Ali Nawaz Baloch at the top-tier

UAE Football League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to wi ...

. Both also played for Pakistan Airlines simultaneously.

International career

Sarwar made his international debut with

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in 1969. During his career, he visited Iran, Turkey, Russia, Sri Lanka,

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, China, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and Afghanistan with the Pakistan national team. When

Mohammad Daoud Khan Mohammad Daoud Khan (Dari/) also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan; 18July 190928April 1978) was an Afghan head of state, military officer and politician who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 ...

was ruling Afghanistan in the 1970s, Sarwar participated twice in the

Afghanistan Republic Day Festival Cup The Afghanistan Republic Day Festival Cup was an annual football tournament held in Ghazi Stadium, Afghanistan. The football tournament was part of a festival of sporting and cultural events staged annually in Kabul from 1974 till 1977 to commemorat ...

, with the Pakistan national team in 1976 and with a national selection called Shaheen FC in 1977, captaining in both editions. He also served as captain at the

1976 Quaid-e-Azam International Tournament The 1976 Quaid-e-Azam International Tournament also called Quaid-e-Azam Birth Centenary International Football Tournament, was the first edition of the Quaid-e-Azam International Tournament. The event was held at the Hockey Stadium in Karachi, ...

Post retirement

Sarwar retired from the Pakistan Airlines department in 1998. On 6 May 2014,

The News International ''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/ Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London th ...

reported the unfortunate conditions of Sarwar at the age of 60. The amount of money he gathered after his retirement had been spent on his family. Since retirement, he had been receiving only 7000 PKR per month as pension. Apart from supporting his own family, the amount was insufficient to look after the families of his two brothers, who had died earlier. Adding to the earlier issues, his four sons were also jobless. Financial problems forced him to work with the Sindh Sports Board as a coach on a meagre monthly salary of 7000 PKR per month. He was also expecting a grant from the

Sindh government The Government of Sindh () () is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions under its authority and juri ...

which could help him to minimise his hardships. His situation also matched former Pakistan national team captains such as

Muhammad Umer Muhammad Umer Baloch Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, TI FIFA Order of Merit, FIFAOM (; 1935 – 21 March 2004), alternatively spelled Mohammad Omer and popularly known as Captain Umer, was a Pakistani professional footballer who played as a Striker (association ...

Moosa Ghazi Moosa Ghazi (; 1937 – 12 May 2003) was a Pakistani Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), left winger. Ghazi represented the Pakistan national football team in the 1950s to 1960s, and was member of the ...

Abdul Ghafoor ʻAbd al-Ghaffār (ALA-LC romanization of ) is a male Muslim given name, and, in modern usage, surname, built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and '' al-Ghaffār'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give rise to the Muslim theophoric nam ...

and

Qadir Bakhsh Ghulam Qadir Bakhsh (10 October 1946 – 2008), was a Pakistani footballer who played as a midfielder. Nicknamed as ''Putla'', Qadir played in the 1960s and 1970s and captained the Pakistan national team in 1970. Early life Bakhsh was born on ...

, who died enduring similar hardship.

Death

Sarwar died on 10 October 2024.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Pakistan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sarwar goal.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarwar Sr., Ghulam 1954 births 2024 deaths Pakistani men's footballers Pakistan men's international footballers People from Lyari Town Men's association football midfielders UAE Pro League players Pakistani expatriate men's footballers Pakistani expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Footballers at the 1974 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for Pakistan Karachi Port Trust FC players Pakistan International Airlines FC players 20th-century Pakistani sportsmen