Saadullah Khan ( ur, ; born 4 June 1994) is 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 le ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

for the Pakistan national team. He is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. Although his favored position is that of a

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

, he can also be deployed as a striker or winger.

Early life

Saadullah was born in the town of Pishin, in the

Balochistan province Balochistan (; bal, بلۏچستان; ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It shares land ...

of Pakistan. He used to study in a

madrassa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

, and became a Hafiz in December 2000.

Club career

Youth career

In 2008, Saadullah trained at Youth Academy Pishin. After a year, he played for Pak Elektron.

KRL

He played for

Khan Research Laboratories The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories, ( ur, ) or KRL for short, is a federally funded, multi-program national research institute and national laboratory site primarily dedicated to uranium enrichment, supercomputing and fluid mechanics. It ...

between 2011 and 2014, winning the

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 ...

title in 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14 and

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, and was a member of the team which reached the 2013 AFC President's Cup final.

BG Sports

Saadullah then had a brief stint at

Sui Southern Gas The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), () formerly known as Sui Gas Transmission Company Limited, is a Pakistani natural gas supply company based in Karachi, Pakistan. History It was formed in 1955. The company in its present shape was formed o ...

in the second-tier of Pakistani football league, before finally making his move to BG Sports Club joining the club on a six-month contract in

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

in April 2015.

SSGC

In 2016, Saadullah got an offer from Hungarian team Somos Sport Egyesu KFT to play in 3 friendlies. He eventually joined SSGC FC where he went on to play for them. In February 2019, he got an offer from Liga 1 club

Persib Bandung Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Bandung ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Bandung'), commonly referred to as Persib Bandung, or simply Persib, is a professional football club based in Bandung, West Java, which competes in Liga 1, the top ...

. In 2021, SSGC club was closed after the shutdown of departmental sports in Pakistan. After the restoration of departmental sports in Pakistan, SSGC terminated contracts of some of the players of the squad on 26 August 2022, including Saadullah.

International career

Khan was first selected for 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 19 ...

in 2014, at the age of 19. He made his debut in a 3–1 defeat against

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. Khan scored his first international goal for national team 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 ...

in 2015 which was assisted by team captain

Hassan Bashir Hassan Bashir ( ur, ; born 7 January 1987) is a Pakistani footballer who plays for Ishøj IF and captains the Pakistan national team. Bashir has played much of his career as a forward, but has been deployed in a variety of attacking roles – ...

Personal life

Saadullah completed his

master’s degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

International Relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

in 2021. In May 2023, Saadullah became Pakistan's first player to complete an FA Level Two (UEFA) coaching course at the age of 28.

Career statistics

International

International goals

: ''Scores and results table list Pakistan's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

;Khan Research Laboratories *

: 2011–12,

, 2013–14; *

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 ...

Runner-up:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

References

External links

Pakistan national team profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Saadullah 1994 births Living people People from Pishin District Sportspeople from Balochistan, Pakistan Pakistani men's footballers Pakistani expatriate men's footballers Pakistani expatriate sportspeople in the Maldives Expatriate men's footballers in the Maldives Men's association football midfielders Pakistan men's international footballers Pashtun footballers SSGC F.C. players Dhivehi Premier League players