Zulfia Nazir Ahmed Shah (; born 30 May 1999) is a Pakistani

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 ...

player. She is a member of the Pakistan national team and plays 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 ...

Background

Shah belongs to the

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...

region of the country.

Career

National

She plays as a midfielder at the domestic level. Since 2021, she has been playing for

Karachi United Karachi United Football Club is a Pakistani professional football club based in Clifton, Karachi. It last competed in the Pakistan Premier League, the top tier of the Pakistani football league system. Formed in 1996, the club turned professi ...

. Earlier, she played for Balochistan United and Punjab.

Karachi United

She debuted for Karachi United in their first match of the 2021 National Women Football Championship in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

against Karachi W.F.C.. She scored 10 goals in that match.

International

In October 2014, as preparation for the SAFF Championship, she participated in a three-match friendly series against hosts,

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 ...

. In November, she participated in the 3rd SAFF Women's Championship held in

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

, where she played in all three of Pakistan's games. When the national team returned to action after an eight-year hiatus at the

2022 SAFF Women's Championship The 2022 SAFF Women's Championship was the 6th edition of the SAFF Women's Championship, the international women's football championship contested by the national teams of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The tournament was played f ...

, she was among the seven previous players to be called for the 23-member squad. She started all three of Pakistan's matches at the event. In the third match, against

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 ...

, she suffered a knee injury which kept her out of action for around ten months. She was named in the squad for Pakistan's friendly against

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

in July 2023. She featured in all three of Pakistan's matches at the 2023 SAFF Women's International Friendly Tournament in

Taif Taif (, ) is a city and governorate in Mecca Province in Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat Mountains, the city has a population of 563,282 people in 2022, mak ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, starting the last two. She scored her first national team goal against

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

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

Honors

National Women Football Championship The National Women's Football Championship is the top cup competition for women's football clubs in Pakistan. It was started in 2005 by the Pakistan Football Federation. Young Rising Stars has been the most successful team in the history of ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

References

1999 births Pakistani women's footballers 21st-century Pakistani sportswomen Pakistan women's international footballers Living people {{DEFAULTSORT:Nazir Ahmed, Zulfia Balochistan United W.F.C. players