The Punjab Stadium is a football stadium in

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 city. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It was nicknamed the "

Ian Rush Ian James Rush (born 20 October 1961) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward. At club level Rush played for Liverpool from 1980–1987 and 1988–1996. He is the club's all-time leading goalscorer, having scored a to ...

Stadium" after the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

striker visited Pakistan to promote

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

football in the country.

Muhammad Essa Muhammad Essa Khan (Urdu/Pashto: ; 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. Cl ...

was the first man to score an international goal at this venue. Real Lahore, WAPDA FC and

Wohaib FC Hafiz Wohaib Butt Memorial Football Club or simply Wohaib FC is a professional football club based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Wohaib is the first Pakistani club to participate Asian Club Championship, where it qualified in the 1992–93 editi ...

use the venue for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

matches.

Construction

The Punjab Stadium was built in 2003 at a cost of $220 million. The stadium has a capacity of 15,000 spectators. It was designed by architect Khalil-ur-Rehman & Associates, and is also used for

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

kabaddi Kabaddi is a contact team sport. Played between two teams of seven players, the objective of the game is for a single player on offence, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

Matches

In 2006, the stadium hosted Pakistan's Asian Cup qualifier against

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. Next year, it hosted 13 of the 15 matches of the

AFC President's Cup The AFC President's Cup was an annual international association football competition between domestic clubs sides run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held between 2005 and 2014. The competition targeted emerging football nations, and wa ...

. In October 2007, it hosted the first leg of Pakistan's WC qualifier against

Iraq national football team The Iraq national football team ( ar, منتخب العراق لكرة القدم) represents Iraq in international Association football, football and is controlled by the Iraq Football Association (IFA), the governing body for football in Ira ...

. It hosted a few matches of the Super League (Club) phase of the 2010 PFF League. Later that year, it hosted the DFA Lahore League. On 1 March 2011, the stadium hosted a

vs.

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

friendly match, which the hosts lost 2-1 Eight days later, it hosted the second leg of

Pakistan's Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Olympic football Asian qualifying tournament against

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, which ended 0-0. 7,000 spectators attended the match. Four months later, on July 3, it hosted the second leg of Pakistan's World Cup qualifier against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, which ended goalless. The same year, it was one of the hosts of the National U-19 Football Championship 2011. In May 2012, it hosted all Group A fixtures of the 2012 AFC President's Cup, with

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

n club

Erchim Khaan Khuns - Erchim FC ( mn, "Хаан Хүнс-Эрчим" Хөлбөмбөгийн Клуб) is a professional football club from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia who have been playing in the Mongolian Premier League, which they have won ten times,

and Taiwan Power Company F.C. facing off against each other and

2011 Pakistan Premier League Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *'' ...

champions

Khan Research Laboratories F.C. Khan Research Laboratories Football Club, sometimes abbreviated to KRL F.C. or KRL, is a Pakistani professional football club based in Rawalpindi. The club is affiliated with Khan Research Laboratories and the team play their home games at KRL ...

The same month, it hosted the semifinals and final of the Zong United Kick-off Football Tournament 2012. As part of the Punjab International Sports Festival, the stadium hosted the Chief Minister Punjab International Football Cup 2012 in November, which was won by Serbian club

FK Bor FK Bor (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Бор) is a football club based in Bor, Serbia. History Early Years (1920s to 1960s) The club was founded in 1919 as a Serbian-French sports society under the name Association Sportive Bor (ASB). The club was ...

. The tournament also featured

Shaab Ibb SCC Shaab Ibb Sports and Cultural Club ( ar, نادي شعب إب الرياضي الثقافي) is a Yemeni football club based in Ibb. The club was established in 1964. Achievements *Yemeni League: 3 ::2003, 2004, 2012. *Yemeni President Cup: ...

(Yemen),

(Mongolia), Red Sun SC (Sri Lanka), Punjab Greens, and Punjab Whites. On October 12, 2014, it hosted a friendly against

, which Pakistan lost 2-0. A few months later, on February 6, 2015, it hosted another friendly against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, which

won 2-1. It has also hosted the semifinals,

third place playoff A third place match, game for third place, bronze medal game or consolation game is a single match that is included in many sporting knockout tournaments to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. The tea ...

, and the final of the 2016 PFF Cup. In 2018, the stadium hosted the 11th edition of the

National Women Football Championship The National Women Football Championship is the top cup competition for women's football clubs in Pakistan – designed as an equivalent to the National Challenge Cup for men. It was started in 2005 by the Pakistan Football Federation. Youn ...

. It was also one of the venues of the

2018 Pakistan Premier League Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

season. In 2020, it hosted the club leg of the 12th edition of the second-division

PFF League The Pakistan Football Federation League ( ur, پاکستان فٹ بال فیڈریشن لیگ ; abbreviated: PFFL), also known as the 'B' Division League, is a Pakistani semi-professional league for men's association football departments and club ...

. Later that year, it hosted majority of the matches of the

2020 PFF National Challenge Cup The 2020 PFF National Challenge Cup was the 29th edition of domestic association football cup competition in Pakistan. 28 teams participated in the competition, commencing from 30 November and concluding on 20 December 2020. The competition was held ...

, the domestic knockout football tournament of

References

{{LahoreTopics Sports venues in Lahore Athletics (track and field) venues in Pakistan Football venues in Pakistan

Stadiums in Pakistan 2003 establishments in Pakistan

Construction

Matches

See also

References