Muhammad Essa Khan (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languag ...

: ; born on 20 November 1983) is a Pakistani former footballer who played as a forward. Essa is one of the most well known faces in Pakistani football, due to his regular goal scoring at international level.

Club career

Born in the football-mad city of

Chaman Chaman (Balochi, Pashto and ur, ) is a city and recently claimed as a new district of Balochistan named Chaman District as it was earlier a part of district Qila Abdullah District located on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. It is the capital of ...

in Pakistan's

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastl ...

province, he played in the Afghan Club Chaman youth team before signing for PTCL FC. He won the old 2003 PFF President's Cup with PTCL FC. In the inaugural 2004 PPL season he returned to his home town club Afghan Club Chaman with his goals helping them to survive relegation. The following season, the striker transferred to WAPDA FC but could not help them retain their PPL title; finishing second to Pakistan Army FC. In 2005, he was offered a playing contract from major Indian football team

East Bengal Club East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top ...

, but the PFF seemingly turned it down. He moved to KRL and helping them finish 3rd in the 2006–07 season. Essa played in the

Geo Super Football League The Geo Super Football League or SFL is the first proper professional inter-city football league of Pakistan, with the support of the PFF. It was established in 2007 and is the first time that Pakistani club football matches are telecast live on ...

for Quetta Zorawar as captain with the club coming second in the league round and losing semi-finalists in the knock-out round of the tournament, although he was awarded the SFL 2007 Player of the Tournament trophy. On 13 August 2007, was awarded the 'Salaam Pakistan Award' alongside tennis star

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Punjabi, ; born 17 Mar 1980) is a Pakistani professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He is the only Pakistani player ever to reach a Grand Slam final, having done so in both men's and mixed doubles at the ...

and female squash player Maria Toor Pakay for their contributions to sport by the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

. In 2009, he opened an academy at his home town in Chaman, called the Essa Khan Academy.

International career

He was discovered by then Pakistan youth team and Under 23 manager John Layton back in early 1999 and found his way into the

Pakistan national football team The Pakistan national football team represents Pakistan association football in FIFA-authorized events and is controlled by the Pakistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Pakistan. Pakistan became a member of FIFA in 1948 ...

soon enough, receiving his first cap in 2000. In 2004, Essa was called up to the Pakistan U23 squad for the

2004 South Asian games The 2004 South Asian Games, officially known as the IX South Asian Federation Games, were held in Islamabad, Pakistan from 29 March to 7 April 2004. Originally scheduled for 2001, the games were postponed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the Un ...

. He ended the tournament as top scorer and was player of the tournament, and helped Pakistan win Gold. Essa’s most famous moment came when he scored from a free-kick against

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

in the first match of the 2005 Pakistan-India friendly series, at the Ayub National Stadium,

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of the ...

to tie the game 1–1 with minutes to go before the final whistle. He scored again in the 3-0 win against India at the

Punjab Stadium The Punjab Stadium is a football stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. It was nicknamed the "Ian Rush Stadium" after the Liverpool striker visited Pakistan to promote grassroots football in the country. Muhammad Essa was the first man to score an internat ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...

. In 2006, he captained Pakistan for the

2006 South Asian Games The 2006 South Asian Games (also known as the 10th South Asian Games) were held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 18 August to 28 August 2006, in the Sugathadasa Stadium with more than 2000 sportspersons competing in the record 20 disciplines of Sports. ...

winning another gold medal. He retained his captaincy for the

2008 AFC Challenge Cup The 2008 AFC Challenge Cup football tournament was organised by AFC and was hosted by India.The tournament was played from 30 July – 13 August 2008. India won the final against Tajikistan. India was also the winner of the fair play award and ...

qualifying campaign. Despite a 2–0 win against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

in the first match, they lost 7–1 to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

which made Pakistan's 9–2 demolition of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic ce ...

meaningless as they finished behind on points to Sri Lanka, thus failing to qualify for the main round. Because of injury, Essa had to miss the SAFF Cup 2008. He retired from the national team during the

2009 SAFF Championship The 2009 South Asian Football Federation Championship was hosted by Bangladesh from 4 to 13 December 2009. Bangladesh was awarded to host the tournament after the withdrawal of original hosts India. After India's reluctance to host the tourname ...

, after a fallout with the international team manager George Kottan.

International statistics

Honours

Pakistan Telecommunication * Pakistan National Football Challenge Cup: 2003 Khan Research Laboratories *

Pakistan Premier League The Pakistan Premier League (PPL; ur, پاکستان پریمیئر لیگ) is a Pakistani professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Pakistan football league system, it is the country's primary football compe ...

: 2009–10 *

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 ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

K-Electric *

: 2014–15 Pakistan * South Asian Games Gold:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, 2006

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Essa, Muhammad 1983 births Living people Pakistani footballers Pakistan international footballers Pashtun people People from Killa Abdullah District WAPDA F.C. players Afghan FC Chaman players Khan Research Laboratories F.C. players K-Electric F.C. players Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Association football forwards South Asian Games gold medalists for Pakistan Asian Games competitors for Pakistan South Asian Games medalists in football