Umar Farooq Tariq Lutfi (born 20 September 1951) is a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

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 ...

coach and former

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 ...

. Lutfi has the distinction of being the first-ever

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Coaching Instructor from

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, and has been described as one of the most experienced football coaches from Pakistan.Controversies will hurt Pakistan soccer: Lutfi
'' Daily Dawn.'' Lutfi played for Pakistan Airlines from 1976 till 1985 and won the National Football Championship thrice with the team. After stepping down from playing, he managed the Pakistan national team several times from 1985 to 2005. At club level he managed his former club Pakistan Airlines, Wohaib,

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 ...

, and Sui Southern Gas. He is also a former head coach of the

Pakistan women's national football team The Pakistan women's national football team is the female representative in international Women's association football, women's football for Pakistan. The team was formed in 2010 and has not yet qualified for the AFC Women's Asian Cup or the FI ...

Playing career

Lutfi joined Pakistan Airlines as player on 15 March 1976. He played for the team till 1985, winning the National Football Championship with the team several times in 1976, 1978, and 1981.Shazia Hasan
Coach upbeat to bring improvement: Lutfi given charge of football team
'' Daily Dawn.''

Coaching career

Pakistan national team

Lutfi took over charge of the national men’s team for the first time at the

1985 South Asian Games The 1985 South Asian Games (or 2nd SAF Games) were held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 20 December to 26 December 1985.National Sports Council, Nepa"South Asian Games". Retrieved on 16 February 2011 Participating nations A total of 7 countries part ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. The next year he led the team at the 1986 Quaid-e-Azam International Cup and the

1986 Asian Games The 1986 Asian Games (), officially known as the 10th Asian Games and the X Asiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1986 (), were held from 20 September to 5 October 1986, in Seoul, South Korea. The venues and facilities of the 10th Asiad were the sa ...

. In 1989, he replaced Burkhard Ziese as caretaker manager two days before facing the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

at the second leg of the

1990 FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification, qualification competition for the 1990 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Confederat ...

in February 1989. He was also member of the coaching staff as assistant coach under Muhammad Aslam Japani during the 1991 South Asian Games when Pakistan won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

.Lutfi appointed Pakistan coach
''

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 ...

''.

Wohaib

Lutfi was made coach of

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

based club Wohaib which participated in the 1992–93 Asian Club Championship. He led the team to earn victories over clubs from Club Valencia from

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

and

Brothers Union Brothers Union () is a professional association football, football club based in Gopibagh, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It currently competes in the Bangladesh Premier League (football), Bangladesh Premier League, the top flight of Football in Bangladesh, ...

from

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

to qualify for Group B, becoming the first Pakistani club to pass the qualifying round of the

Asian Club Championship The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...

. After the start of the 1992–1993 National Football Championship, held from 20 October 1992 to 14 February 1993, Hafiz Sohaib Butt became the club coach, however Lutfi returned as head of the team for the group stage at the Asian top flight. After a humiliating defeat by 10–0 to Al-Wasl in the opening fixture, the club came back and drew 1–1 with the eventual champions of the competition PAS Tehran in their final group game in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. For their efforts, Wohaib FC was ranked 5th place in Asian Club Championship that year.

Return to Pakistan national team

In 1995, he assumed the charge for the

1995 South Asian Gold Cup The 1995 SAARC Gold Cup, also known as Bristol SAARC Gold Cup for sponsorship reasons, was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka between 25 March and 2 April. Originally 6 teams participated in the competition, but Maldives national football team, Maldives ...

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. He again coached the team from 2003 till 2005, leading in a three match friendly series in the last year against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

until eventually being replaced by Salman Sharida. During 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 U ...

, Lutfi served as assistant coach of the Pakistan under-23 team under Wang Xiao He when Pakistan again won the gold.

Pakistan women football team

In March 2007, being the first-ever

Coaching Instructor from

after obtaining the A license. The same year, Lutfi briefly managed Karachi Bazigar in the Geo Super Football League 2007 campaign. In 2010, Lutfi was appointed coach of the Pakistan women football team, becoming the first ever in the history of the newly formed team. Tariq coached the team for the first SAFF Women Championship in Bangladesh where the team reached the semi-finals.

Return to Pakistan national team

The next year returned as caretaker coach of Pakistan national team in 2011, but was replaced by Zaviša Milosavljević.

Khan Research Laboratories

Lutfi was appointed the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for

before the start of 2011-12 Pakistan Premier League season. Lufti went on to win the league title for three consecutive season, winning the league in 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and finished sixth in the 2014-15 season. Lufti also won the

Pakistan National Football Challenge Cup The PFF National Challenge Cup is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in men's domestic Football in Pakistan, Pakistani football within the Pakistan football league system. It is organized ...

on four occasions, winning the competition in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and then successfully defending it in the edition, defeating K-Electric on both occasions in the finals. Lutfi won the cup again in 2015, and went on to defend it in the next edition in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Sui Southern Gas

In 2017, Lutfi was appointed as the head coach for second division side Sui Southern Gas after a successful tenure with

. Lutfi won three out four silverware they competed for after winning Major Tufail Shaheed Memorial Football Tournament, All Pakistan Salahuddin Dogar Memorial Football Tournament and winning the second division title to achieve the promotion to

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 ...

Return to Pakistan

Following the expulsion of Faisal Saleh Hayat by

, Lutfi was assigned the head coach role again in 2019, for a tour in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, until the Pakistan Football Federation was banned again briefly after.

Honours

Player

Pakistan Airlines

* National Football Championship: 1976, 1978, 1981

Manager

Khan Research Laboratories

: 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Sui Southern Gas

* Pakistan Football Federation League: 2017-18

Individual

* Pakistan Sports Awards: 2019

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lutfi, Tariq 1951 births Living people Pakistani men's footballers Pakistani football managers Pakistan national football team managers Men's association football midfielders Wohaib FC managers Pakistan International Airlines FC players 20th-century Pakistani sportsmen

Playing career

Coaching career

Pakistan national team

Wohaib

Return to Pakistan national team

Pakistan women football team

Return to Pakistan national team

Khan Research Laboratories

Sui Southern Gas

Return to Pakistan

Honours

Player

Pakistan Airlines

Manager

Khan Research Laboratories

Sui Southern Gas

Individual

See also

References

External links